Remarkably Effective and Nontoxic Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in Mice

Adiponectin is a hormone (made in fat cells) that binds to two receptors, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, in muscle and liver cells. Humans with type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity have low levels of circulating adiponectin. In mice, raising circulating levels of adiponectin protects against insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Many studies have shown adiponectin to have both antidiabetic and antiatherogenic properties.

In hopes of developing an orally available treatment that would mimic the effects of adiponectin and be relatively easy to produce, Japanese investigators identified a small molecule (AdipoRon) that stimulates the two adiponectin receptors in the same way as adiponectin. AdipoRon produced effects similar to those of …