You might have all heard about the 'Selfish gene', the groundbreaking unconventional hypothesis published 40 years ago by Richard Dawkins. But, did you know that cells can also become selfish under stress.
Theresa Hartmann summarizes an article, Evidence of β-cell Dedifferentiation in Human Type 2 Diabetes, that suggests that β-cells - the cells that produce insulin for regulation of blood glucose and whose defects lead to diabetes, could act selfishly under stress!!
β-cell stress can occur due to large workload thrust upon them due to obesity or insulin resistance - the case where body organs cannot properly sense insulin and thus demand more of it. This makes them sick over time and ultimately kills them. To escape this adverse end, a few of these cells lose their identity; they 'forget' who they are supposed to be; and become something else. They no longer sense metabolic stress and can continue to survive. Of course, this occurs at the cost of the person's health which deteriorates faster from even lower β-cell mass.
Next, I help summarize a fascinating discovery that might upturn hundred year old belief. It has been always thought that motor neurons - the cells that connect the brain to the muscle, only pass signals in one direction. They act as passive relays of the message from the information and processing centers to the acting musculature. But new research, Motor neurons control locomotor circuit function retrogradely via gap junctions, suggests that this might be so simple. The article suggests that the motor neurons are connected to the upstream processors with gap junctions - proteins that connect the cytoplasm of two cells allowing free movement of molecules and ions between two cells. Such connection allows motor neurons to communicate, and control, the activity of higher processing units, thus making the connection from brain to muscles two directional.
Please have a listen!
Theresa Hartmann summarizes an article, Evidence of β-cell Dedifferentiation in Human Type 2 Diabetes, that suggests that β-cells - the cells that produce insulin for regulation of blood glucose and whose defects lead to diabetes, could act selfishly under stress!!
β-cell stress can occur due to large workload thrust upon them due to obesity or insulin resistance - the case where body organs cannot properly sense insulin and thus demand more of it. This makes them sick over time and ultimately kills them. To escape this adverse end, a few of these cells lose their identity; they 'forget' who they are supposed to be; and become something else. They no longer sense metabolic stress and can continue to survive. Of course, this occurs at the cost of the person's health which deteriorates faster from even lower β-cell mass.
Next, I help summarize a fascinating discovery that might upturn hundred year old belief. It has been always thought that motor neurons - the cells that connect the brain to the muscle, only pass signals in one direction. They act as passive relays of the message from the information and processing centers to the acting musculature. But new research, Motor neurons control locomotor circuit function retrogradely via gap junctions, suggests that this might be so simple. The article suggests that the motor neurons are connected to the upstream processors with gap junctions - proteins that connect the cytoplasm of two cells allowing free movement of molecules and ions between two cells. Such connection allows motor neurons to communicate, and control, the activity of higher processing units, thus making the connection from brain to muscles two directional.
Please have a listen!
