The influence of ubiquitous environmental contaminents on beta cell survival and function

在全球范围内，对暴露在环境污染物中的有害健康影响的担忧一直在增加。近年来，有人认为2型流感的流行是由于工业化和更“现代”的社会改变了人们的生活方式。然而，工业化也与更多地接触与消费品、工业和农业做法有关的合成化学品有关。因此，有人提出，环境中的化学物质可能会导致糖尿病的发生。诚然，在糖尿病患者中测量到了一些环境化学物质水平的升高，但这并不能证明接触化学物质会导致疾病。该项目的目标是确定在我们的环境中常见的化学物质是否会影响胰腺的功能，从而与2型糖尿病的发展有关。该项目将使用分泌胰岛素的胰岛β细胞来确定环境中存在的各种常见化学物质是否会损害这些细胞的正常功能和/或导致贝塔细胞死亡。我还将调查发育中的胰腺(胎儿或新生儿)是否比成人胰腺更容易受到这些化学物质的伤害。我们还将确定这些化学物质是否都通过一个共同的途径对胰腺造成损害，并试图找到防止或减少这种暴露的影响的方法。这项研究的结果将确定环境中的有毒化学物质是否能够导致动物和人类群体的代谢内分泌中断。这些结果也将对确定环境中的化学物质是否导致世界各地2型糖尿病发病率上升起到重要作用。

Concerns about the adverse health effects associated with exposure to environmental contaminants have been increasing globally. In recent years it has been suggested that the epidemic of Type 2 is due to lifestyle changes associated with industrialization and a more "modern" society. However industrialization is also associated with an increased exposure to synthetic chemicals associated with consumer goods, industrial and agricultural practices. It has therefore been suggested that chemicals in the environment may contribute to the development of diabetes. It is true that elevated levels of some environmental chemicals have been measured in people with diabetes but this does not prove that the chemical exposure causes the disease. The goal of this project is to determine whether chemicals that are commonly found in our environment can affect the function of the pancreas and therefore be related to the development of type 2 diabetes. This project will use insulin secreting pancreatic beta cells to determine if a wide variety of commonly encountered chemicals present in the environment can impair the normal function of these cells and/or cause the beta cells to die. I will also investigate whether the developing pancreas (fetus or newborn) is more susceptible to these chemical insults than the adult pancreas. We will also determine whether these chemicals are all acting through a common pathway to cause damage to the pancreas and attempt to find ways to prevent or reduce the effects of this exposure. The results from this study will determine whether toxic chemicals in the environment are capable of causing metabolic endocrine disruption in animal and human populations. These results will also be important to determine whether chemicals in the environment are contributing to the increased rates of type 2 diabetes around the world.