Insulin defects may figure in mental illness
Insulin defects may figure in mental illness
By Scott Allen
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
International Herald Tribune
BOSTON: A small but growing chorus of scientists is becoming convinced that insulin is just as important to the brain as it is to the body.
The body needs insulin to convert sugar in the bloodstream to energy. People whose bodies either don't make enough insulin or don't process it correctly develop Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, which can lead to poor circulation, kidney failure, blindness and death.
The role of insulin in the brain is less clear, but this much is certain: When brain cells are deprived of insulin, they die. Now researchers are discovering that a breakdown in insulin-processing in the brain plays a role in mental illnesses. Perhaps even a driving role.
Dr. Suzanne de la Monte, a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, believes that Alzheimer's disease could be called "Type 3 diabetes." And C. Anthony Altar, president of Maryland-based Psychiatric Genomics, refers to schizophrenia as "diabetes of the brain."
Though researchers are still answering basic questions about insulin's role in mental illness, the potential impact of their work is dramatic.
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