Scientists have developed cells that release the hormone insulin in response to music. The hope is that these could one day be implanted in diabetes patients to help them avoid regular injections needed to control their condition.
When tested on mice, in response to Queen’s song We Will Rock You, the cells released nearly 70 percent of their insulin within five minutes, all within 15 minutes – comparable to the natural release of the hormone from mice . our pancreatic cells, The Lancet reported.
There are now plans for human studies.
Insulin is produced by the pancreas after we eat and helps the cells absorb sugar from the blood.
But people with diabetes produce little or no insulin, otherwise their cells become resistant to its effects.
Type 1 is caused by the immune system attacking the insulin-producing cells, causing the pancreas to stop producing any hormone. It is treated with regular insulin injections.
Scientists have developed cells that release the hormone insulin in response to music
In tests on mice, in response to Queen’s song We Will Rock You, the cells released nearly 70 percent of their insulin within five minutes, all within 15 minutes.
In type 2 – the most common type – insulin production decreases or cells become resistant to it, usually due to cell changes associated with obesity.
It can be controlled with diet changes and medications such as metformin, but about one in four patients also eventually need hormone injections.
However, insulin injections can be stressful.
Now scientists at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have developed implantable insulin-producing cells that can be controlled from outside the body – allowing patients to control when insulin is released into the blood.
In a new study, they took human pancreatic beta cells – which produce and release insulin – and genetically modified them in the laboratory so that they respond to sound waves.
The cells had channels on their surfaces that were sensitive to sound waves. These act as doors to the cell: in response to music, they open to let in calcium particles that circulate in the blood, and the cell responds by releasing its insulin.
Crucially, these cells had limited insulin capacity and needed four hours to ‘replenish’ the hormone. The researchers said this activity would “match the typical needs of people with diabetes who consume three meals per day.”
Lab tests assessed different types of music played at different volumes, with the strongest insulin response recorded to rock music with bass, such as We Will Rock You, played at a volume of 85 dB (as loud as a food blender).
Other types of music, including classical and guitar, had a varying but smaller effect, while environmental sounds such as lawn mowers and fire trucks – and speech – did not trigger insulin release.
The researchers then placed the insulin-producing cells in a capsule made of material approved for human implantation – and stuffed it into the abdomen of mice with diabetes.
In type 2 diabetes – the most common type – insulin production decreases or cells become resistant to it, usually due to cell changes associated with obesity
When they played music through a speaker close to the treated area, all cells dropped insulin and blood sugar levels dropped in the mice that received the implant, but remained high in untreated mice and when the music was played further away.
“Our designer cells only release insulin when the sound source with the correct sound is played directly on the skin above the implant,” the researchers said.
This rules out any possibility of accidental insulin release from other noise, such as a TV.
The idea is that this implant can be operated by the patient after a meal by holding a kind of portable speaker against the abdomen.
Commenting on the study, Dr Ali Aldibbiat, a clinical research fellow in diabetes at Newcastle University, said: ‘This is a new and very interesting approach by Swiss scientists who have genetically modified insulin-producing cells to release insulin as response to certain sound waves. which is safer than previously used chemicals.
‘The remaining challenge is to ensure that insulin release occurs only in response to controlled sounds and not to background noise.’
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