9 When administered at pharmacological doses it has strong antidiabetic effects. If given to obese rats via an intra-cerebroventricular route, FGF-19 can significantly improve glucose tolerance. GLP-1 and GIP are both gut hormones as well as neuro-peptides. We know that GLP-1 therapy works partly by enhancing insulin secretion, but it also works to improve glucose tolerance through mechanisms of insulin-independent action that are incompletely ABT-888 molecular weight understood. Several studies have shown how GLP-1 can have central effects other than those relating to blood glucose, such as appetite suppression and improvements in mood and quality of life factors.10 GLP-1 action

in the hypothalamic accurate nucleus improves glucose tolerance through centrally-acting mechanisms similar to leptin and FGF-19. A further example of how signalling mechanisms between the gut and the brain are crucial to our understanding of diabetes comes from the dramatic improvements in glycaemic

control which occur following bariatric surgery even before significant weight loss occurs. Mechanisms underlying the metabolic benefits of bariatric surgery are not fully understood but may involve improvements in both the BCGS and islet cell function. One previous study of diabetic rats undergoing bariatric surgery (duodenal exclusion) showed insulin-independent activation of a neural Selleckchem ZD1839 circuit that inhibits hepatic glucose production (HGP).11 More recent work suggests that insulin signalling is required in the ventromedial hypothalamus for the effect of bariatric surgery to inhibit HGP in obese rats.12,13 There is increasing evidence to suggest that there are strong links between enhanced secretion of FGF-19, the central nervous system and the gut. The potential is therefore to identify how bariatric procedures interfere with the BCGS and perhaps induce diabetes remission through this pathway (without having to resort to surgery). It is possible that the combined response to rising plasma glucose

is a rise in insulin concentration, GLP-1, FGF-19 and leptin which activate the BCGS, which together with the traditional pancreatic islet response, contribute to glucose disposal. However, if this is the case then why has such a relevant regulatory Florfenicol pathway not been detected previously? The theory is that the gold standard method for assessment of in-vivo glucose control is the euglycaemic-hyperglycaemic clamp, through which insulin sensitivity is assessed as the amount of glucose which needs to be infused to maintain stable plasma concentrations, and this ignores the fact that some of the exogenous glucose could have been taken up by insulin-independent mechanisms. Criticisms of the BCGS hypothesis are that although brain directed interventions can affect glucose homeostasis this cannot be taken as direct evidence of the brain having a physiological role. It is not clear whether the brain plays a part on a day-to-day basis. Schwartz et al.