Project summary
Bone health and blood sugar levels are closely linked, with each affecting the other. Dr Karla Suchacki will investigate if weak bones make it harder for the body to manage blood sugar levels by studying how rats with osteoporosis process glucose (sugar). This could help explain how weak bones increase type 2 diabetes risk and lead to better tools to predict and prevent type 2 for people with bone conditions.
Background to research
Our bones and blood sugar levels are closely connected. High blood sugar levels in people with type 2 can weaken bones, making them more likely to break and heal slower. But the connection goes in both directions - weak bones may also play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.
Previously, Dr Karla Suchacki showed that a protein called PHOSPHO1, found in bones, affects how the body uses glucose in the blood and is linked to the development of both obesity and type 2 diabetes. Now she'll build on her research to find out which other parts of the body work with bones to control blood sugar levels and impact type 2 diabetes risk.
Research aims
Dr Suchacki wants to find out if having weak bones affects how the body uses glucose, which might help explain links to type 2 diabetes.
She'll study rats with osteoporosis, a condition where bones become weak and brittle. Dr Suchacki will feed rats a special type of sugar and take images to track how different parts of the body, like fat, heart and muscle tissues, take up glucose from the blood. To see if osteoporosis affects sugar uptake, she’ll compare the results to data collected on rats without osteoporosis.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
This research could help discover new ways in which bone conditions increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. If the study shows that having weaker bones, like in osteoporosis, affects how the body processes glucose and responds to insulin, it could lead to more accurate and tailored predictions of type 2 risk in people with bone conditions.
