Diabetes & Obesity

Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic syndrome that refers to a group of diseases that affect how the body uses blood sugar (glucose).

Diabetes occurs when the body does not produce sufficient levels of, or correctly respond to, insulin. Insulin is an essential physiological hormone that is secreted from beta-cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Under normal physiological conditions, insulin is secreted in response to increased blood glucose levels and stimulates cellular glucose uptake stored as glycogen.

Type-1 diabetes is the failure to produce enough insulin and instead of being transported into cells, sugar builds up in the blood stream. In contrast, in Type-2 diabetes the body exhibits insulin resistance and fails to respond accordingly. Increased risk of developing Type-2 diabetes is more commonly associated with lifestyle factors, such as obesity.

Incretins are a group of metabolic hormones that stimulate a decrease in blood glucose levels. The study of how Incretins are released after eating and augment the secretion of insulin released from pancreatic beta cells of the islets of Langerhans by a blood glucose-dependent mechanism continues to advance. 

IBL-America offers investigators a broad range of quality laboratory kits to identify key biomarkers to achieve their research goals and study the biological processes underlying diabetes.