Voice-over:
About twenty million Americans have diabetes, and blood flow problems in the heart, brain, eyes and kidneys are a common consequence of the disease. Now new research has identified a cellular logjam that can contribute to these complications. Diabetes markedly raises the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. University of Florida researchers have found a possible reason why. Certain cells in the blood cease to move efficiently in some diabetic patients, depriving the lining of blood vessels, called the endothelium (enn-doh-theel-ee-umm), of the capacity to carry out repairs crucial to vascular health. In the lab, the U-F team looked at cells isolated from diabetic patients and found that the cells' framework had become rigid. The scientists believe this prevents cells from getting to areas of the vessels and arteries that need repair. When they treated the cells with a gas called nitric oxide in the laboratory, the cells became more flexible. The goal? To someday use the cells in therapies to reduce the formation of atherosclerosis, or arterial plaque, in people.
Dr. Mark Segal / UF nephrologist:
"When an area of your blood vessels are injured, these cells are now able to move to that area of injury, repairing it, perhaps decreasing the rate of atherosclerosis or vessel disease."
Voice-over:
Doctors think one way to promote vascular repair in the future could be to draw improperly functioning cells from the body. The cells would then be incubated with nitric oxide and transplanted back to the patient. This method might eventually serve as a way to improve diabetics' vascular health. Researchers are also studying whether certain medications are effective at raising nitric oxide levels within cells of the blood. These drugs could one day be used to improve blood vessel repair.
Dr. Mark Segal / UF nephrologist:
"We're actually understanding this mechanism of endothelial repair. And not only understanding it, but we can give drugs specific to help the patient's own cells carry out endothelial repair and we hope in the future that will decrease the incidence of atherosclerosis."
Voice-over:
From the University of Florida Health Science Center, I'm Mike Garrison
