No? Wuss. These mice are genetically engineered with firefly juice to have livers that glow when CRTC2, also known as the fasting switch, is turned on. It all gets very techy but here’s what you need to know:
Our bodies run on fat & sugar (glucose). When we eat, we have a rise in our blood sugar. When we aren’t eating (like when we are sleeping or starving), our bodies primarily burn fat as fuel. All well and good except that the hothouses that sit on our shoulders (our brains) require a measure of glucose to function. It’s the reason that you feel all foggy and confused when you are carb depleted. So when you aren’t eating and your brain needs glucose, a little switch in your liver (CRTC2) starts pumping out the glucose stored in your liver. Hurray for the little Star Wars dude in your gut!
The problem arises (and the mice with the glowing livers get involved) when CRTC2 gets activated and, like a 12-year-old with a cell phone, won’t shut up – causing excess amounts of glucose to be constantly circulating in your blood (known as high blood sugar). How does this happen? Insulin resistance. Primarily from overeating and obesity. From insulin resistance comes the dreaded diabetes and the host of ills that comes with it.
The Study
The mice with the glowing livers were not just for the researcher’s entertainment (although, admit it, you really want to see one now). The researchers fattened up a bunch of firefly-mice and then waited until their livers lit up like your check-0il light. When their livers turned on it meant that the switch was no longer functioning and sugar was being pumped out 24-7. This allowed the researchers to identify exactly how & when the switch gets permanently stuck in the on position.
Where They Went Wrong
The researchers concluded by saying “What I really would like to do is to use the glowing mice to screen for drugs that decrease gluconeogenesis.” They finally discover the pathway that leads to insulin resistance and their first reaction is to create a DRUG to interfere with it??
What We Should Take Away From This Study
1. If you overeat and stay overweight long enough, then your body chemistry becomes altered. You are no longer functioning the way you are supposed to. This insulin resistance is a vicious cycle leading to health problems to increased resistance to more health problems and so on.
2. It is better to keep your CRTC2 in good working order by eating right and exercising – known cures to lifestyle-induced insulin resistance.
3. If you do make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up for it – just get back on track because your health is so worth it. Plus, if you screw up, then scientists might mate you with a firefly and we all know what happens then. (??)
4. Can you believe they crossed a FIREFLY with a MOUSE and the mouse has internal organs that GLOW??? That’s really the reason I had to write up this study. How freakin’ cool is that?
This is the kind of research that makes me wish I had been a scientist. How cool would it be to tell my kid’s third grade class that I made a mouse’s liver GLOW IN THE DARK? ON COMMAND?!
That last one was mine. I wanted to see what it would look like if I used OpenID. Not impressed. Feel free to delete this.
Hmmm, I wonder if they sell the left over mice as pets. (just kidding)
Last month I read a headline that said they had finally found a cure for diabetes. I was shocked, upon reading the article, that after extensive study they had found Gasteric Bypass to be a cure for diabetes. HELLO, so not over eating and getting good exercise is also a cure for diabetes. GBS doesn’t cure diabetes. I have a BIL who is diabetic and can’t get GBS because he is not overweight. So, where is his cure?
Sometimes those lab coats really worry me with their demented sense of curiosity. I mean Fireflies and mice. What’s next mice with bat wings or rats with oyster guts? oh geez, now I’m sounding like one of them. It’s contagious!
I think you may have misinterpreted what it is they aim to do next. They want to find a drug to halt or dampen gluconeogenesis, the generation of more glucose that could be responsible for leading to insulin resistance. By halting the generation of new glucose, you could circumvent the increased need for constant insulin, thus creating a new treatment for insulin-resistant diabetes. This is a good thing, as their interference with the pathway would be to prevent it from happening.
Anyway, making a mouse with a green liver is fairly cool and theoretically easy. Just insert the firefly glowing gene (it’s called luciferase, in case you were wondering) under the control of a gene that is only made in the liver. That’s the nuts and bolts of it. Scientists made a green glowing cat as well, a few months ago.
Insulin resistance is most often a result of poor lifestyle and diet choices. [If I can give my take on what the point of this post may be…] When poor lifestyle and diet lead to diabetes, it seems sad that a new drug is the cure instead of prevention or – it almost seems too simple – reversing the lifestyle choices. Type II diabetes can be “cured” in many people with changes in lifestyle (dramatic as they may be for some). For some, a drug may be the only answer, but we are such a medicated nation, it’s scary. We automatically look to for the band-aid instead of trying to get to the cause of the problem.
Or perhaps I am missing the point of the study as well.
M – you totally should have been a scientist;)
Ice Cream – Excellent point about GBS as a “cure”.
Gena – you know how to make a green cat?! You are my new official hero:)
And yeah, I did get what they were trying to do with researching a possible drug to inhibit the pathway. And I think the drug is a good idea for Type I diabetics and perhaps even to mitigate some of the damage of Type II while people change their lifestyle. BUT what I didn’t like was that that was the researchers FIRST conclusion. Not “let’s tell people that they are seriously altering their circuitry.” but rather “look we found another opportunity to make a drug!”
Thanks for your elucidating comment, you obv. know your research:)
AT22 – you said it well, friend:)