Platypus Venom - Diabetes Treatment

https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news89522.html
Platypus venom could hold key to diabetes treatment
University of Adelaide
November 29, 2016

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ornithorhynchus_anatinus/

My summary:

Recently researchers in Australia have discovered that platypus venom could help treat type 2 diabetes. They have discovered that the same hormone (GLP-1) produced in the platypus gut to regulate glucose is produced in their venom as well. This hormone is lacking in the bodies of people with type 2 diabetes. So to balance that they need a medication that can give them this hormone. However this hormone degrades within minutes, that is where the platypuses and echidna come in. These animals have evolved their GLP-1 to last longer and therefore have more of an effect. These findings are very important to Diabetes research but cannot provide a new treatment. With this new information scientists can have more knowledge as to what to use in a new medication.


My discussion:

Although this new information cannot directly treat diabetes it can provide insight as to how to treat it. With more research put into this discovery scientists could find out how we can make our GLP-1 hormones last longer and therefore have more of an effect. This would mean the patients would need to take their medications more infrequently. Another possibility is the scientists could extract the hormone from the animals and transfer it into a drug that can better control someone's blood sugar. There might be a few drawbacks to transferring one animal's hormones to another as it might cause infections or other medical problems. This could potentially change the lives of many people across the world with type 2 diabetes. Who knew dangerous venom could have such a positive impact.