Diabetics could go needle-free thanks to new implantable device that slowly ... trends now
A new implantable device with a built in 'oxygen factory' could soon replace insulin injections for people with type 1 diabetes, scientists claim.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a chewing gum-sized device that produces an endless supply of oxygen necessary to infuse a diabetic person's body with crucial insulin-producing cells.
The device, tested on mice, has the potential to eradicate the need for diabetics to constantly monitor their blood sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin.
And scientists, who soon plan to test the device on humans, say it could also be adapted to treat other diseases requiring repeated deliveries of proteins.
The minute device is about the size of a quarter. It relies on its ability to split water vapor into its component parts - hydrogen and oxygen. It then stores that oxygen in a chamber to fuel the release of transplanted islet cells, which produce insulin
Dr Daniel Anderson, a chemical engineering professor at MIT and a leader in the device's development said: 'You can think of this as a living medical device that is made from human cells that secrete insulin, along with an electronic life support-system.'
The ability to manage type 1 diabetes without tedious and painful processes of testing blood sugar and injecting insulin once a day would mark a major win for the roughly two million Americans living with the condition.
The daily regimen of meticulously checking blood glucose levels and manually injecting insulin is enough to keep a diabetic person alive and healthy.
But this process lacks the kind of finely-tuned responsiveness a non-diabetic's body has and does not replicate the body's natural ability to control blood sugar levels.
Dr Anderson said: 'The vast majority of diabetics that are insulin-dependent are injecting themselves with insulin, and doing their very best, but they do not have healthy blood sugar levels.
'If you look at their blood sugar levels, even for people that are very dedicated to being careful, they just can’t match what a living pancreas can do.'
Having run into the problem of how to supply transplanted insulin-producing cells with enough oxygen to respond to blood glucose dips, MIT scientists figured out a way to split apart water vapor in the body to its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen.
Oxygen then goes into the storage chamber in the device that feeds transplanted insulin-producing cells that are then able to respond to surges in
