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The growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes is fueling extensive research. In a complex series of experiments using a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, investigators in Canada studied interactions between sensory neurons and β cells in islets of Langerhans. β cells produce insulin, but in diabetes this production is impaired when lymphocytes attack them, beginning early in life.
The investigators identified primary afferent sensory neurons that innervated β cells and that expressed transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) protein; the TRBV1 ion channel is the receptor for capsaicin. Neonatal administration of capsaicin to destroy these neurons nearly eliminated lymphocytic infiltration of islet cells, significantly reducing the risk f…