Posted by Ellen on October 31, 2001 at 13:42:09:
In Reply to: Tiny Capsules Float Downstream posted by Gady on October 29, 2001 at 13:56:10:
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Small implant could end insulin injections
WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A tiny implanted capsule that creates and supplies insulin to the body could eventually be developed to replace insulin injections for diabetes, a researcher said on Wednesday.
The microchip-sized pump is coated with silicon so the body will not reject it and contains insulin-producing cells, developer Tejal Desai of the University of Illinois at Chicago said.
"The capsule essentially acts as a bioreactor -- it contains insulin-secreting cells that borrow nutrients from the body to keep producing insulin indefinitely," she said in a statement. "As long as the body produces glucose, the cells will respond with insulin."
Desai, whose work was funded by the National Science Foundation, presented her findings to a meeting of the American Vacuum Society in San Francisco on Wednesday.
She said the device will require a great deal more testing before it can be developed for use in diabetes patients, who often have to inject insulin several times a day to maintain their blood sugar levels.
Type I diabetes, which affects as many as 2 million Americans, is caused when the immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Patients must inject insulin and follow careful diets.
Some of the 15 million or so patients with type II diabetes, caused mainly by lifestyle and affects people later in life, must also inject insulin.
15:26 10-31-01
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