Development of anti-diabetic zinc medicine protecting the pancreatic B cells through the GPR39-stimulating Pdx-1 expression

锌是人体必需的微量元素之一，在我们的生活中起着重要作用。从分子生物学的最新研究发现，锌在动物体内的稳态是由22种锌转运体控制的。在日本人口老龄化问题上，主要由肥胖和2型糖尿病引起的代谢综合征等与生活方式有关的疾病是更为紧迫的问题。在此背景下，我们研究了锌与胰岛素稳态和活性密切相关的抗糖尿病作用和作用，并成功开发了几种口服活性锌配合物。在本研究中，我们首先着眼于在激活胰脏中表达的受体因子Pdx-1的基础上治疗1型和2型糖尿病。其次，我们在锌复合物治疗的2型糖尿病KK-Ay小鼠的胰腺和肝脏的生化和形态学分析中发现了新的阳性结果。

Zinc is one of the essential trace elements playing an important role in our life. From the recent studies of molecular biology, the zinc-homeostasis in the animal body has been found to be properly controlled by 22 kinds of zinc transporters. Concerning the Japanese aging of the population, lifestyle-related diseases as metabolic-syndromes mainly derived from obesity and type-2 diabetes are more urgent issues.From these backgrounds, we have investigated the anti-diabetic action and effects of zinc closely related with insulin homeostasis and activity, and succeeded the development of several orally-active zinc complexes. In this study, first we focused to cure both the type 1 and type 2 diabetes on the basis of activatiing transpciption factor, Pdx-1, expressed in the pancreas. Secondly, we indicated the new positive results for both the biochemical and morphological analyses of dramatically improved pancreas and liver in zinc complex-treated type-2 diabetic KK-Ay mice.