| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
L-Carnosine (carnosine), a histidine-containing dipeptide (HCDP), is present in the brain and muscle in large amounts. Several studies have shown that carnosine plays a role in glucose metabolism and suppresses diabetic nephropathy and that carnosine increases pancreatic β-cell mass without influencing insulin resistance and insulin secretion capacity in leptin receptor knock-out (db/db) mice (Diabetes 56: 2425-2432, 2007). However, the mechanism by which carnosine increases pancreatic β-cell mass is unknown.
We generated pancreatic β-cell-specific CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ) transgenic (TG) mice and showed that pancreatic β-cell mass is inversely proportional to the C/EBPβ expression level. Pancreatic β-cell mass was decreased markedly in TG mice compared with WT mice but increased significantly after carnosine administration. It was considered that this increase in pancreatic β-cell mass might lead to improved blood glucose levels in TG mice.
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