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Type 1 Diabetes Research Paper

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Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease in which there is a high level of glucose in the blood. It can occur at any age. It is most often diagnosed in children, adolescents, or young adults. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas by special cells called beta cells. Insulin is needed to move blood glucose into cells. Inside the cells, glucose is stored and later used for energy. With type 1 diabetes, beta cells produce little or no insulin. Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream instead of going into the cells. This build-up of glucose in the blood is called hyperglycaemia. The body is unable to use the glucose for energy. This leads to the symptoms of type 1 diabetes. This is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. With type 1 diabetes, an infection or another …show more content…

Although currently it is only at a preclinical stage, xenotransplantation is needed to provide an unlimited supply of tissues and organs for transplantation. In the United States, “13 patients die each day waiting to receive a life-saving transplant to replace a diseased organ” The lack of donor tissues such as pancreatic islets is also increasing, statistics show that approximately 140 million people in the world have diabetes but only several thousand pancreatic glands become available annually. This shortage could be aided by xenotransplantation, for example using pancreatic islets from pigs. Xenotransplantation has the potential to completely eliminate the need for human organ donors as organs could be mass produced in animals such as pigs and harvested on demand, which would allow the stockpiling of viable organs for donation. The organs could also be genetically altered to be, for example, more strong or

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