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Researchers combined the drug harmine with a medication similar to Ozempic to boost the number and function of human insulin-producing cells transplanted into mice
By Lauren J. Young Iuliia Burmistrova/Getty Images Millions of people with type 1 or 2 diabetes worldwide rely on insulin injections or medications to keep their blood sugar in check. The disease results from the destruction of the pancreas’s finite number of beta cells—the body’s only source of insulin. But what if there were a way to regrow these insulin-producing cells so people with diabetes could make the hormone on their own again? Scientists have discovered a possible drug recipe that robustly replenishes that stock of beta cells—with the help of new blockbuster obesity drugs such as Ozempic and a natural psychoactive compound.
A study published this month in Science Translational Medicine reported that combining a hallucinogenic drug called harmine—one of several compounds found in the psychedelic drink ayahuasca—with one of the new weight-loss medications can increase the number of human insulin-producing cells by approximately 700 percent. The researchers took living, or in vivo, human beta cells and transplanted them into the kidneys of diabetic and nondiabetic mice. After treating the animals for three months with both drugs, insulin production increased, blood glucose levels stabilized and the beta cell mass—the total number of cells—increased. What’s more, the newly grown beta cells were preserved one month after stopping treatment. The findings are a promising step but still need to be replicated in human trials.
“This work really rigorously attacked in a number of different ways whether or not you can treat human beta cells in vivo and get them to [expand in number],” says endocrinologist Justin P. Annes, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford University, who investigates beta cell regeneration but was not involved in the study. “I think regenerative medicine for diabetes has the potential to really revolutionize care and is a very important area for us to continue to pursue.” On supporting science journalism
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Combining Ayahuasca Compound with Drugs like Ozempic Could Help Treat Diabetes, Mouse Model Suggests
