Following a research initiative at the Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus and Aarhus University, researchers have revealed how diabetes affects the stem cells in the form of residing in muscle to form connective and fat tissue. The discovery has significant clinical perspectives, according to researchers behind this.
The cells discovered by the researchers are located in the skeletal muscle and in several other organs. These cells are responsible to create fat and scar tissue. The unhealthy skeletal muscle with an accumulation of fat cells and connective tissue damages the function of the muscles.
The study involved how type 2 diabetes changes the skeletal muscles. The study led to the finding how fatty tissue as well as fibrosis are formed in the muscles.
In fact, the filling of tissue with fat and scar tissue is a characteristic of diabetes, stated one of the research associates.
Therefore, the finding has a huge clinical perspective. This is because cells are found all over the body, and a number of diseases are exactly associated with this build-up of scar and fat tissue in the organs and the skeletal muscle.
Meanwhile, with studies undertaken for gene expression at a single cell level, fat-accumulating cells and fibrosis-forming cells in the skeletal muscle are found.
The study also led to the finding that gene expression occurs in unhealthy cells compared to healthy cells. Once the cells were identified, how they changed in people with type 2 diabetes was examined.
The cells initiated to grow and divided expediently when different factors related to the disease were present in the muscles. Therefore, these cells are the key to regulate in the event of accumulation of fat and fibrosis in the skeletal muscles. The discovery also explains the background that medical doctors discover when tissue samples from the skeletal muscles of patients with type 2 diabetes are taken.