Insulin
One should realize that discovery of insulin was a great step, no doubt, in the treatment of diabetes, it is not the cure for the disease. It regulates not only the blood glucose levels, but also reverses almost all the destructive metabolic events caused by diabetes. Generally speaking, when a number of different drugs exist for the treatment of a disease or a disorder, this is so because no one drug is particularly effective. In the case of diabetes there is one universally accepted drug insulin because it works.
The real treatment, not the cure of the disease, came in the form of insulin. And now we know that to control all types of diabetes, insulin is the ‘DRUG’ and the world is thankful to the Canadian researchers Drs. Banting and Best. Insulin is not pure and contains many other substances which are not advisable to inject into the body. It has to be purified to remove the unwanted substances. It has a short duration of action in the body and would have to be injected several times a day to be effective in regulating the blood sugar. This difficulty has been over come by making various modifications. These modified forms have proved to be effective and the patients can do with these modified forms, known as long acting insulins, by taking a single shot everyday. The common names of these insulins are ‘porcine insulin’ prepared from pig pancreas, and the one prepared from cattle pancreas is known as ‘bovine insulin’. Of these two, porcine insulin is preferable as its structure is nearer to human insulin. Recently it has been possible to get insulin similar to the one produced by human pancreas. It is known by the trade name humulin or human insulin. It is produced by changing bacteria through genetic engineering. In this technique, the human insulin producing gene is introduced into bacteria. This should be the preferred form of insulin in patients with diabetes. With this technique one can produce any quantity and we do not have to depend upon slaughtering of animals.
Insulin is a protein hormone and so has to be injected into the body. We cannot take it like other drugs orally because if it is taken orally, like other food it will be broken down to amino acids and does not remain as insulin in the digestive tract. The most common method is subcutaneous injection. There are other methods like use of insulin pump and a few others. Some of these are rather too expensive and others are less reliable.
Filed under: Insulin