Sugar rush shrinks brain cell powerhouse
The spike in blood sugar levels that can come after a meal is controlled by the brain’s neuronal mitochondria, which are considered the “powerhouse of cells,” Yale School of Medicine researchers found in a new study.
Published in the Feb. 25 issue of the journal Cell, the findings could provide a better understanding of how type 2 diabetes develops.
Blood glucose levels are thought to be primarily controlled by the pancreatic hormone insulin, the liver, and the muscles. This new study, however, highlights a crucial role for mitochondria in a small subset of neurons of the brain in systemic glucose control.
“We found that when sugar increases in the body, mitochondria in subsets of brain neurons rapidly change their shape and their function is altered,” said senior author Sabrina Diano, professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Neuroscience, and Comparative Medicine. Diano said what surprised the research team is not that these changes occur in response to glucose, but that these seemingly subtle adjustments in a “housekeeping” cellular event in a handful of brain cells has such a powerful impact in circulating glucose levels by affecting many peripheral tissue functions.
Chitoku Toda, Jung Dae Kim, Daniela Impellizzeri, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Zhong-Wu Liu, Sabrina Diano. UCP2 Regulates Mitochondrial Fission and Ventromedial Nucleus Control of Glucose Responsiveness. Cell, 2016; 164 (5): 872 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.02.010
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