http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/st...1bf&k=63970
THIS is a link to canadian newspaper that published the story about canadian scientists who discovered amazing results in mice. their treatment actually reversed diabetes in test mice..using treatment of the imune system and pain neurons inthe pancreas... this is interesting and i posted the link here because many of us either have diabetes or know someone who does,, etc.
check it out and pass it along....

Interesting and makes sense logically. Substance P is a common neurotransmitter and the administration of capsaicin drives it out of the nerve cell to stimulate its target cell, in this case the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. By directly supplementing substance P it effects the same result i.e. increased insulin production, overcoming the diabetic state. Hope further study proves effective in humans.

Wow that is cool. Another good use for my habanero sauce
I'm all about administering capsaicin

As a type 1 diabetic for the last 17 years, it was my impression that ALL the insulin producing cells were targeted out and killed by my immune system. Even if you can turn off the response/inflamation wouldn't you stll have to replace those cells, or is the implication that these cells are not dead, just non-functional?
The whole fucus of the stem cell issue as it's applied to diabetes was to turn off the response and be able to make a supply of cells that could be resistant to rejection I thought.

Cobra, cure or not, I live for the heat.....one day I'll have to hit you up and check out your stuff. So far the hottest I can tolerate is SOB.

Some of the arthritis creams contain capsaicin and work similarly by depleting substance P out of the pain sensory nerve cells around the joints lessening the arthritic aches. So Cobra if a person doesn't mind smelling like hot wings your sauce could be dual marketed as a medicinal aid.

6500, you are correct. I don't think that will have any effect on type I DM. As for type 2, most people can control it by diet and exersize it is just that most don't. It takes disipline and self-control.

However, the article states that substance P "cleared up" the islet cell inflammation that is typical in Type I DM and also curbed insulin resistance involved in both Types I and II, so there may be hope there also.

yes that is what i found so interesting,,, also the conection between this and pain receptors and similarities in type 2 and md. i also am wondering about a delivery system for such a concept. oral or injectable? would this be similar to gene therapy? in any event any possible positive outcome will shurly piss off the major drug companies who are more interested in profits from treatment not curing. any way it was a glimmer of hope on the horizon to possibly save a life and reduce the amount of bullshit people must endure... now if they would just ban the major causes of diebetes, like oh say high fructose corn syrup which is in everything maybe we'd have half a chance. last part is just an opinion..

I'd be more excited if it weren't reported by "socialized medicine" Canadian doctors, and was reported by our good old-fashioned American "one-percent less leftist than Canadian" doctors!

Actually, most doctors I know are pretty conservative. I shoot with a group that is made up of 9 people, 3 are doctors. My other half is a medical student, and just about everyone she knows is a Republican of one level or another. I would say the American docs are about 900 percent less leftist than Canadian.

If you could turn on a gene to make more substance P that would be interesting but a more localized treatment would be preferable as you speculate. I will disagree however about high carbohydrates causing diabetes. You have to have the genetic and or other physiologic predisposition to it to develop the condition, not just eating a lot of sweets.

This is particularly interesting for me. I graduated with a BS in Biochemistry and focused on neuroscience; I spent 3 years working with rats and mice in neuropharmacological studies; and after graduating I worked for a major pharmaceutical company. Additionally, I'm a Type I diabetic of 14 years.

I'm having a difficult time being receptive to this as a major hope for Type I's, even though I badly want to believe it. The life-span of a rodent likely is too short to allow for the total demolition of their islet cells. Inflamation has been postulated as the course of the disease in the "honeymoon phase" where a Type I is not yet 100% insulin dependent but doesn't produce sufficient amounts of insulin. However, the honeymoon phase eventually ends in insulin dependence, which may not occur to the same extent in a species with a shorter life-span. And, even though in recent years there has been theories suggesting that some diabetics have a "chronic or extended honeymoon phase" that lasts decades, I still question how effective this will be.

The early studies of islet cell implants have all resulted in an immune response that kills the new islet cells. To my knowledge, these have been implanted in a silicone matrix inter-peritoneally, which has no high concentration of pain receptors. Since the islet cells still cause an immune response that leads to their failure, the implication is that anti-bodies and not pain receptors are the guilty culprit. Just my $0.02 based on the knowledge and experience I have.


It seems like it'd have to be implanted or injected. Targeting pain recepters is possible, but not specifically the pancreas's. And if you targeted them all, it'd make for a very loopy life kind of like being on heroin all the time (opiate agonists target pain receptors).

Speaking of this, has there been a study on how opiate agonists affect bloodsugars in diabetics? Theoretically, by the line of reasoning in this article, extended use of them should cause an increase in insulin production if there's enough neuropeptide (which I'd assume there is).

It would be different from gene therapy. Gene therapy involves identifying diabetes before it manifests itself, and then either fixing the defective gene or fighting the defect. It mainly would help those that are pre-disposed to diabetes but don't yet have it. This new possibility is a way to treat those that already have it.

And while I don't whole-heartedly agree with banning high-fructose corn syrup, I do agree that people should be wary of their health. There's no doubt that life-style choices might play a part, but it's not the cause of diabetes. Many diabetics are diagnosed in infancy before they ever had high-fructose corn syrup, and plenty of Type IIs are in perfect health besides having an unlucky gene.

I'll check into this some more over Xmas and post any findings.

Echo Four, That is great to hear! In Maryland the doctors are moving to the right because of the ever rising insurance premiums and ever lower insurance reimbursements. It's a good trend. My compliments to you and you friends.