Russian scientists have discovered that the presence of certain bacteria in the intestine could be related to the development of type 2 diabetes.
This type of diabetes, also known as diabetes not dependent on insulin, is a severe metabolic disorder.The disease causes cells to lose their ability to respond to insulin, the hormone that controls glucose collection.As the cells see their ability to interact with insulin, they lose their ability to absorb glucose and run out of energy, even if there is adequate nutrition, a high level of glucose in the blood, and a sufficient amount of insulin.(In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce any insulin, which causes a glucose deficiency in cells throughout the body).
According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 285 million people with type 2 diabetes in the world.The incidence of the disease and the severity of their complications (the people who suffer from it have a 20 -time risk of developing gangrene in the lower extremities, for example) makes doctors and scientists not only are looking for the causes of the disorder but alsonew methods of fighting it.Recently, robust arguments have emerged supporting the theory that diabetes could be related to, among other things, the composition of the microbial community within our intestines, often referred to as a intestinal microbiota.Specialists from four Russian research centers studied the changes in the microbiota of the large intestine, and have made a very clarifying discovery.
Elena Kostryukova's team of the Institute for Scientific Research in Physical-Chemical Medicine, and Maria Vakhitova, of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), both entities in Russia, analyzed the composition of the microbiota of the 92 patients intestine,including 20 with type 2 diabetes and 48 healthy people without any chronic disease;24 more people showed symptoms of metabolic disorder diagnosed by doctors as prediabetes, a state that can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes over time.The glucose level, which is the most important metabolic indicator, was also monitored in the study participants by taking blood samples.
The microbiota of the intestine is the name given to a whole population of microorganisms that live in it (including even certain unicellular and archea fungi).The set is also usually called microflora, the historical term that was coined when bacteria was still considered part of the plant kingdom.
Bacteria have been the main object of study of the study.To determine exactly what bacteria they were dealing with, the researchers analyzed the DNA extracted from stool samples.Having isolated the DNA, the scientists sequenced (counted and deciphered the sequence of base pairs in the DNA) the gene that encodes for ribosomal RNA, the RNA, an important component of the ribosomes, which are microscopic structures responsible for the synthesis ofProteinsThe gene that encodes for this structure is found in all kinds of bacteria and there is a database that can be used to identify them based on the nucleotide sequence in the gene.This part of bacterial DNA could be described as a bacterial passport.
After comparing the composition of the microbiome with the diagnosis (diabetes / prediabetes / normal glucose tolerance) and the diet of the participants in the study, the scientists reached a series of conclusions.
Especially important has been that researchers have managed to relate the level of glucose intolerancewith the presence of three specific types of microbiota components: Bacteria of the Blautia, Serratia and Akkermansia groups.All were found in healthy people, but in cases of prediabetes and diabetes they were present in a much higher amount.