Presenter: Kacie Russon, College of Life Sciences, Nutritional Science
Authors: Kacie Russon, Joseph Beales, Emily Orton, Jordan Davis, Jeffrey Tessem
Faculty Advisor: Jeffrey Tessem, College of Life Sciences, Nutritional Science
Institution: Brigham Young University
Diabetes (DM) is drastically increasing in prevalence with 592 million people projected to suffer DM by 2035. DM is a chronic disease, characterized by the absence or reduced secretion of insulin from pancreatic ß-cells, leading to the dysregulation of blood glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is distinguished by insulin resistance, ß-cell dysfunction and association with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Research shows a correlation between elevated plasma levels of trimethylamine n-oxide (TMAO), a gut metabolite of phosphatidylcholine, betaine and carnitine, and CVD when cardiac risk factors are present. Given the strong association between T2D and CVD, we hypothesized that Ins-1 ß-cells prolongedly exposed to elevated TMAO levels, in the presence of glucolipotoxicity (GLT), will show decreased proliferation more than cells only exposed to GLT. Here we present our findings of TMAO and GLT exposure on ß-cells proliferation. Determining the cause of decreased functional ß-cell mass in this T2D model will provide insight into the pathogenesis and potential treatment strategies for DM.