Everyone knows that Platypuses might be some of the greatest creatures on the face of the Earth, do not argue with me about this I mean look at the little guy he is smiling, but on top of being a cutie pie he might also hold the key to helping fight diabetes that currently 29 million Americans have. Diabetes is a disease that produces too much glucose for your body no matter what the type is. There are many symptoms of Diabetes the main ones being increased thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, unexplained weight loss, irritability, blurred or lost vision, etc. This disease is affecting more and more people every year and many researchers/scientist are scrambling for a way to combat this disease and maybe even cure it.
Researchers at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University noticed surprisingly that the same hormone produced in their stomach to regulate the level of glucose in their body is also found in their venom. The hormone known as glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, is normally secreted in the stomach by both humans and animals which usually regulates our glucose level as stated above but with diabetes there is usually either too inefficient to help regulate levels in people with Diabetes 2 or dissolved within minutes to not have a lasting impact on glucose. First what was noticed was that Platypus and Echina’s evolution has caused their GLP-1 to resist these fast deterioration of insulin thus providing both with the ability to actually balance out their levels and not have to worry about Diabetes.
What we know:
Frank Gruntzer of the University of Adelaide, first stated that the GLP-1 is degraded in monotremes, the scientific classification of Platypus and Echidna, by a different mechanism than how the human body degrades GLP-1. Upon further analysis of monotreme’s genetics the revelation was that there seems to be a kind of molecular war in the bodies between the function of GLP-1, which we now know is also produced in their venom not just their guts. The venom itself is produced during the breeding season, the males use this venom in competition to get the females. The war that is going is seen as that GLP-1 in the gut is used in the same regulatory process as in humans but the GLP-1 is also used in the venom for fending off other males and the tug-of-war between the different functions has created dramatic changes in the GLP-1 in monotremes, but not so much for humans.
What we believe is happening:
Also because of this tug-of-war between the functions of GLP-1 has most likely triggered the evolution of the this stable form of GLP-1 in monotremes. Stable GLP-1 molecules are desirable as a potential Diabetes Type 2 treatment. As the problem with humans GLP-1 is that there is not enough stability or length of time to dissolve the glucose to a normal level. Because of these evolution changes and optimization of GLP-1 we know that stable GLP-1 might be the factor we are missing when talking about fighting off Diabetes or at least treating it. Lastly a side note worth mentioning is that while Echidnas have produced the same GLP-1 variant found in Platypuses they do not have the same spurs that Platypuses have to deliver their venom, which in itself is curious and might be another key to unlocking the usage of GLP-1 for humans with Diabetes.
Future possibilities:
This being the first step, both researchers agreed that there is still years of research left until GLP-1 or possibly another factor could be used to treat and maybe cure diabetes. With that in mind we now see that sometimes our greatest chance for curing many diseases might not be found in our own but with a combination of nature, animals, and our body we might catch the disease before it is affecting the human. Preventative medicine versus Reactive medicine is what age we currently live in and this is just one more disease need to prevent.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161129114432.htm
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep37744
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/basics/symptoms/con-20033091