Article Name: “Diabetic Flies” Can Speed up Disease-Fighting Research
At the University of Maryland researchers have found that Fruit Flies respond to insulin relatively similar to humans on the cellular level. They have used these flies in order to do experiments on how we can cure diabetes or at least know more about it. Although humans and fruit flies are not alike they do have a 60% similarity in DNA. For the fact that they do share a similar response to insulin, and they are also easy to breed, they are the perfect animals to test on. In a diabetic person, their blood glucose does not get used by the cell because glucose doesn’t bind to insulin receptors and moves into the cell, therefore the glucose cannot flow into the cell membrane. Researches found that fruit flies systems area not alike and that glucose may not play a big role as humans, but Scientist Leslie Pick andher staff used genetic engineering to disable 5 of the flies insulin like genes. As a result the flies showed many characteristic as a human diabetic would. They soon injected the flies with Glut4 ,a protein in humans that is similar to insulin, and surprisingly the flies responded to it an the GLUT4, moving it into the cell membrane just like insulin does. This step will help researches find solutions to help cure diabetes, and find ways mammals are similar to other species in order to help solve other diseases. Two questions I am curious to know about are, How does insulin work when its injected into a human? And, How do cells respond to a change in homeostasis, do they adapt or kill of the foreign item? Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, which helps draw glucose from the bloodstream into the cells through out the body. However in diabetes your body does not produce enough insulin to regulate all the sugar in the blood, or either the body doesn’t know how to use the insulin is has efficiently. If your body doesn’t produce enough insulin then you can purchase some at a pharmacy or by a prescription. This new insulin can be a replacement as your body’s main source. Insulin is a protein with its function being drawing glucose into the cell membrane, however because it is a protein it must be injected because it will get destroyed in the bodies stomach. The insulin prevents the body from using fat as its energy source by binding itself to glucose and drawing into the cell.
The Body’s immune system