Bottlenose dolphins may gives scientists clues into how to shut off diabetes type II, and provide an insight into a range of other human ailments.
Credit: U.S. National Parks Service
SAN DIEGO: Healthy bottlenose dolphins appear to turn on and off a diabetes-like state: a trick that may open to door to a treatment for the disease in humans.
The ‘switch’ mechanism, discovered by researchers at the non-profit National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF), is likely driven by the dolphins’ high-protein, low-carbohydrate fish diet.
Analyses show that a fasting mechanism in dolphins may trigger a series of changes in body chemistry similar to those seen in humans with diabetes.
Model for human health
“While some people may eat a high protein diet to help control diabetes, dolphins appear to have developed a diabetes-like state to support a high protein diet,” veterinary epidemiologist Stephanie Venn-Watson, director of clinical research at the NMMF, told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego.
It’s the first time researchers have found a natural animal model for type II diabetes in humans.
This not only allows scientists to explore diabetes-like functions in an animal model, but studying their genome may help find a completely new treatment.
Large brain demand high blood glucose
“Shared large brains that have high blood glucose demands may explain why two completely different species - humans and dolphins - have developed similar physiological mechanisms to handle sugar,” she added.
There are also hints that humans and dolphins may share similar chronic conditions associated with diabetes, such as insulin resistance, haemochromatosis (or iron overload) and kidney stones.
Type II diabetes accounts for an estimated 5% of all human deaths globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
Human papillomavirus
In other research conducted by the Marine Animal Disease Lab at the University of Florida, and also reported at the AAAS, found at least 50 new viruses infecting dolphins – including the human papillomavirus.
The papillomavirus is common in bottlenose dolphins and while they host multiple types of the virus, they don’t appear to get cancer but only genital warts.
In humans, the virus - known as HPV – can cause cervical tumours or cancer in women, especially in women with multiple types of the virus.
