Stomach-Bypass Surgery Cures Diabetes in Rats

January 28, 2004

Tue 27 January, 2004 22:24

By Karla Gale

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In rats, a weight loss operation, called

gastrojejunal bypass, can cure a type of diabetes often associated with

obesity, French researchers report. The operation works even in animals

that aren't fat.

Exactly why the surgery cures diabetes is a mystery. " If we understand

why the operation works, we might understand better the cause of the

disease, " co-investigator Dr. Francesco Rubino told Reuters Health. " Our

ultimate goal is to develop a more targeted approach to treatment of

diabetes. "

In obese patients with diabetes, gastrojejunal bypass is associated with

improved sugar control, " long before significant weight loss " occurs,

Rubino and Dr. Jacques Marescaus point out in the ls of Surgery.

They theorize that changes in how the gut interacts with insulin might

explain the surgery's direct anti-diabetic effect.

To investigate this possibility, the surgeons, both at Louis Pasteur

University in Strasbourg, performed gastrojejunal bypass or a fake

operation in non-obese rats with diabetes.

After surgery, the two groups had the same average daily food intake and

similar weight gain profiles. In animals that underwent bypass, sugar

and insulin control improved dramatically. In contrast, no such effects

were observed in rats treated with the fake operation.

In fact, bypass surgery was more effective than certain drugs or food

restriction at controlling sugar levels.

" The operation by itself is anti-diabetic, " Rubino said. " The result is

not a secondary outcome of weight loss or decreased food intake. "

He said he believes that in the future, the indication for bypass

surgery will be widened to include patients whose diabetes is not easily

controlled with diet or drugs, even if they are not obese.

SOURCE: ls of Surgery, January 2004.

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