What is the effect of insulin? Blood sugar can be reduced.

Diabetes is one of the world's most serious public health problems.
the latest figures show that the number of adult diabetics worldwide exceeded 400 million in 2017.
Now, an international collaboration led by scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has made a major discovery that promises to make insulin therapy more effective by better simulating how insulin works in the human body. On October 24,
, the results were published in the journal Nature Communications under the title "The Signalling Conformation of the insulin-ringer ectodomain".
study reveals the first definitive 3D image of how insulin successfully interacts with its receptors.
the receptor is the "gatekeeper" who transmits information to cells, and its interaction with insulin is essential to guide cells to lower blood sugar levels in the body.
so understanding the process could help design faster, longer-lasting insulin therapies. Michael C. Lawrence, co-author of the
paper, said: "Current insulin therapy is not optimal because scientists designed it without knowing exactly what happens when insulin interacts with receptors on the cell surface.
Now, we're very happy to address the question of how insulin triggers cells to lower blood sugar levels.
specifically, in the study, the scientists first carefully designed individual samples of insulin-receptor binding, and then used a cryo-electronic microscope to capture hundreds of thousands of high-resolution "snapshots" of those samples.
then, they combined more than 700,000 2D images into a high-resolution 3D image that showed exactly what insulin and its receptors were successfully combined.
" the findings mean that insulin therapy may now be designed that is closer to the body's own insulin.
future, pharmaceutical companies can use our data as a reference to design treatments that optimize the body's insulin absorption.
our institute is building a network of collaborations to drive this result and truly benefit patients.
," Lawrence concluded.
Source: Biological Exploration.