MIT engineers have actually established a groundbreaking gadget to treat Type 1 diabetes, intending to replace everyday insulin injections. The device, when checked in diabetic mice, effectively maintained their glucose levels for over a month.
After developing their gadget, which is about the size of a U.S. quarter, the researchers checked it in diabetic mice. One group of mice received the device with the oxygen-generating, water-splitting membrane, while the other got a device that contained islet cells without any extra oxygen. The researchers now prepare to adjust the device for testing in bigger animals and ultimately people.
The researchers showed that when implanted into diabetic mice, this device could keep the mices blood sugar levels stable for a minimum of a month. The researchers now hope to create a larger variation of the gadget, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, that could become evaluated in individuals with Type 1 diabetes.
MIT engineers developed an implantable device that carries hundreds of countless islet cells together with its own on-board oxygen factory to keep the cells healthy. Credit: Felice Frankel
Insights from the Research Team
” You can think of this as a living medical device that is made from human cells that secrete insulin, in addition to an electronic life support system. Were excited by the progress so far, and we really are optimistic that this innovation could wind up helping patients,” states Daniel Anderson, a professor in MITs Department of Chemical Engineering, a member of MITs Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), and the senior author of the study.
While the researchers primary focus is on diabetes treatment, they state that this kind of gadget could also be adapted to deal with other diseases that need repeated delivery of therapeutic proteins.
MIT Research Scientist Siddharth Krishnan is the lead author of the paper, which was released just recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research team likewise consists of numerous other researchers from MIT, including Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute, in addition to scientists from Boston Childrens Hospital
Visualized is the device submerged in water, producing oxygen (bottom) and hydrogen (top) bubbles without the requirement for any batteries or wires. Credit: Courtesy of Claudia Liu and Dr. Siddharth Krishnan, MIT/Boston Childrens Hospital.
The Current Challenge in Diabetes Treatment
A lot of patients with Type 1 diabetes need to monitor their blood glucose levels carefully and inject themselves with insulin at least when a day. This process does not reproduce the bodys natural capability to manage blood glucose levels.
” The large bulk of diabetics that are insulin-dependent are injecting themselves with insulin, and doing their absolute best, but they do not have healthy blood sugar level levels,” Anderson says. “If you take a look at their blood sugar levels, even for people that are really devoted to being mindful, they just cant match what a living pancreas can do.”
A better option would be to transplant cells that produce insulin whenever they find rises in the patients blood sugar levels. Some diabetes patients have actually received transplanted islet cells from human cadavers, which can achieve long-lasting control of diabetes; nevertheless, these patients need to take immunosuppressive drugs to avoid their body from turning down the implanted cells.
More just recently, researchers have actually shown similar success with islet cells stemmed from stem cells, but patients who receive those cells likewise need to take immunosuppressive drugs.
This photo reveals the cathode side of totally put together device, with a United States quarter-dollar coin for scale. Credit: Courtesy of Claudia Liu and Dr. Siddharth Krishnan, MIT/Boston Childrens Hospital
Resolving the Oxygen Supply Challenge
Another possibility, which might prevent the requirement for immunosuppressive drugs, is to encapsulate the transplanted cells within a flexible device that secures the cells from the body immune system. Nevertheless, finding a trusted oxygen supply for these encapsulated cells has shown tough.
Some speculative gadgets, including one that has been tested in clinical trials, feature an oxygen chamber that can provide the cells, but this chamber requires to be refilled periodically. Other scientists have actually established implants that include chemical reagents that can produce oxygen, however these likewise run out ultimately.
The MIT group took a different technique that might possibly generate oxygen indefinitely, by splitting water. This is done utilizing a proton-exchange membrane– a technology initially deployed to create hydrogen in fuel cells– situated within the gadget. This membrane can split water vapor (found generously in the body) into hydrogen, which diffuses harmlessly away, and oxygen, which goes into a storage chamber that feeds the islet cells through a thin, oxygen-permeable membrane.
A tuned magnetic coil situated outside the body sends power to a little, flexible antenna within the gadget, enabling for cordless power transfer. It does require an external coil, which the scientists expect might be worn as a spot on the clients skin.
Promising Experimental Results
After developing their device, which is about the size of a U.S. quarter, the scientists tested it in diabetic mice. One group of mice got the device with the oxygen-generating, water-splitting membrane, while the other received a gadget which contained islet cells without any extra oxygen. The gadgets were implanted just under the skin, in mice with completely functional body immune systems.
The researchers found that mice implanted with the oxygen-generating gadget were able to keep regular blood sugar levels, similar to healthy animals. Mice that got the nonoxygenated gadget ended up being hyperglycemic (with elevated blood sugar) within about two weeks.
Typically when any type of medical device is implanted in the body, attack by the immune system results in a buildup of scar tissue called fibrosis, which can reduce the devices effectiveness. This sort of scar tissue did form around the implants utilized in this study, but the gadgets success in managing blood sugar levels recommends that insulin was still able to diffuse out of the device, and glucose into it.
This approach could also be used to deliver cells that produce other kinds of restorative proteins that need to be given over long periods of time. In this research study, the researchers showed that the device could likewise keep alive cells that produce erythropoietin, a protein that stimulates red blood cell production.
Future Outlook
” Were optimistic that it will be possible to make living medical gadgets that can live in the body and produce drugs as needed,” Anderson states. “There are a variety of diseases where clients require to take proteins exogenously, often extremely regularly. If we can change the requirement for infusions every other week with a single implant that can act for a long time, I believe that might actually help a great deal of patients.”
The researchers now plan to adjust the gadget for testing in bigger animals and eventually people. For human use, they wish to develop an implant that would have to do with the size of a stick of chewing gum. They also plan to evaluate whether the gadget can stay in the body for longer time periods.
“The materials weve utilized are naturally stable and long-lived, so I think that sort of long-term operation is within the realm of possibility, and thats what were working on,” Krishnan says.
“We are very excited about these findings, which our company believe might provide a whole new method of someday treating diabetes and potentially other illness,” Langer includes.
The research study was moneyed by JDRF, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health.
MIT engineers have developed a groundbreaking device to treat Type 1 diabetes, intending to change everyday insulin injections. This implantable device houses insulin-producing cells and generates its own oxygen by splitting bodily water vapor. The device, when evaluated in diabetic mice, successfully kept their glucose levels for over a month.
The device consists of encapsulated cells that produce insulin, plus a tiny oxygen-producing factory that keeps the cells healthy.
One promising method to treating Type 1 diabetes is implanting pancreatic islet cells that can produce insulin when needed, which can totally free clients from giving themselves frequent insulin injections. One major challenge to this approach is that when the cells are implanted, they ultimately run out of oxygen and stop producing insulin.
To conquer that obstacle, MIT engineers have designed a new implantable gadget that not only carries hundreds of countless insulin-producing islet cells, but also has its own onboard oxygen factory, which creates oxygen by splitting water vapor discovered in the body.