Researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed a genetically engineered laboratory mouse model in which pancreatic beta cells can regenerate after being induced to die.


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The said lab mouse model - called the PANIC-ATTAC mouse - mimics what occurs in humans with type 1 diabetes and in type 2 diabetes too.

The new animal model's regenerative ability may provide future insights into improved treatments of diabetes, which affects millions of Americans.

After inducing death in the beta cells - which make and release the hormone insulin - the researchers found that the engineered mice's beta-cell populations can regenerate, which makes the animal useful for studying conditions such as type 1 diabetes, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and gestational diabetes.

According to Dr. Philipp Scherer, professor of internal medicine, director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study:

"The ability to induce cell death is not novel. The fact that the beta cells regenerate after we kill them is really the new aspect of the model. It enables us to see what kind of event or pharmacological intervention might stimulate or enhance the regeneration."

The animal model and the research finding are described and reported online and in a future print issue of the journal Diabetes.

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