Improving knowledge of hypo unawareness

Understanding hypothalamic glucose sensing mechanisms and their role in diabetes

• Professor Mike Ashford of the University of Dundee
• £43,264; Three-year equipment grant
• July 2012 – July 2015

Background to project

The risk of a ‘hypo’ (severe hypoglycaemia) is a source of fear and anxiety for many people with diabetes. Hypos are a side effect of therapies that lower blood glucose (such as insulin) and because the body’s ability to respond to low blood glucose levels is missing or ineffective in most people with diabetes. Repeated hypos can make the body respond even less effectively, resulting in a loss of the tell-tale clues of hypoglycaemia, this is known as hypoglycaemic unawareness.

Project aims

With support from Diabetes UK, researchers at the University of Dundee will purchase specialised equipment (including a sophisticated microscope, recording devices and associated equipment) that will enable them to build a recording rig to monitor the chemical and electrical changes within living nerve cells. This will help them continue research to better understand the molecular mechanisms of glucose sensing during severe hypoglycaemia and the development of hypoglycaemic unawareness.

Potential benefit to people with diabetes

The possibility of having a hypo as a result of glucose-lowering therapy is of great concern to many people with diabetes. The equipment funded by this grant will support research to help us understand why people with diabetes develop hypoglycaemia unawareness and lay the foundations for future attempts to prevent or treat this distressing condition.