February 5, This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:. The hormone insulin plays a central role in the metabolism of many living organisms.
When food is plentiful, insulin promotes the absorption and storage of energy. In times of hunger, however, insulin secretion is reduced; the body conserves energy or searches for alternative energy sources. It is crucial for survival that this system is finely tuned. If it gets out of balance, there is a risk of diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Humans produce insulin in their pancreas. In the fruit fly Drosophila, however, the hormone is produced by nerve cells located in the brain.
These cells release the insulin directly into the hemolymph—the fluid that fulfills the functions of blood in insects. Apart from this, however, the insulin system of the fly is very similar to that of humans. They aimed to unravel how these cells in the fly's brain work together with other neurons to produce a concerted response to metabolic demands and internal state changes. Their results have been published in the journal eLife.
How do insulin-producing cells IPC in living insects react to changes in energy balance? Little is known about this so far. To close this knowledge gap, Dr.
Ache's team used an approach that allows recording the activity of individual IPCs in living fruit flies under different conditions. They found that the IPCs release insulin when the flies ingest sugar with their food—but not when sugar is injected directly into the hemolymph. It suggests that insulin secretion is not simply controlled by the rise in blood sugar levels, but by more complex mechanisms involving gut hormones.
