With age, men have a deficit in testosterone levels and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The production of insulin is dependent on this hormone.
A testosterone deficiency increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in older men. If this link has been known for a long time by doctors and researchers, they did not yet know how to explain it. For the first time, American scientists have identified how this male hormone helps the body regulate blood glucose levels. They publish their work in the review Cell Metabolism.
Researchers at Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana) studied laboratory guinea pigs and mice genetically modified to suppress the testosterone receptor on the surface of pancreatic beta cells, the insulin-producing cells. These animals were then fed a diet high in fat and sugar.
An antidiabetic hormone
At the end of the experiment, mice without testosterone receptor all showed low insulin secretion inducing very high levels of glucose in the blood compared to mice in the control group. This result thus seems to suggest that the production of insulin is dependent on testosterone.
To better understand this link between these two hormones, the researchers administered testosterone and glucose to human cells treated with a testosterone inhibitor. Thus, the male hormone cannot bind to its receptors. They performed the same experiment with cells taken from the modified mice. In both cases, the pancreatic cells have a reduced insulin production compared to the control group.
This study therefore indicates that testosterone amplifies the production of insulin by the cells of the pancreas. “This hormone acts as an antidiabetic in humans. If we can modulate its action, it is a promising therapeutic avenue against type 2 diabetes that opens up,” rejoices Dr. Franck Mauvais-Jarvis from the Tulane University School of Medicine, one of the authors of the study.
.