Grant: Operating Grant

The worldwide increase in type 2 diabetes from 30 million to 171 million between 1985 and 2000 have far surpassed the estimated forecast. Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of heart and kidney failure as well as blindness. Our current treatment is unable to stop the disease progression. A condition known as insulin resistance is an early finding in type 2 diabetes. It is clinically silent; therefore patients can go for years without being diagnosed. Our current understanding of how insulin resistance develops is poor. Finding strategies to prevent the onset of insulin resistance can potentially cure diabetes and eliminate heart and kidney diseases. We have recently identified specific cells within the hypothalamus which can prevent the development of insulin resistance. In our proposal, we wish to 1) further understand what occurs within these unique brain cells in the hypothalamus which control the fat tissue, 2) find what effect these important brain cells have on other organs that are important in diabetes development, such as the muscle and liver, and 3) identify which particular hormones secreted by the fat tissues are important in controlling whole body insulin resistance state. Results from our experiments can provide new strategies for a potential cure of diabetes.