Researchers in Sweden have developed a new study of mice that shows what happens as the body begins to develop type 2 diabetes. A team at Lund University concludes that long-term studies of the middle-aged mice model will better confirm how type 2 diabetes drugs work in humans.

For the study, over a period of eight months (middle-aged for mice), the researchers fed mice fatty foods.  As expected, the mice became overweight, produced less insulin and developed high blood sugar levels. Researchers confirmed that fatty foods caused inflammation in the islets of Langerhans cells located in the pancreas, which produces insulin.

Although prior research has shown the inflammation in the islets of patients with type 2 diabetes, the new mouse model confirms that this is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.  

"Throughout the period we were able to study the process that leads to the development of type 2 diabetes with a lifestyle like that of people predisposed to the condition," researcher in diabetes and endocrinology at Lund University, Bilal Omar said in a news release.

For decades, researchers have tried to understand the cause of diabetes and the way it develops. Development of new and more effective drugs depends on models of the disease as tools. In order to develop the best kind of drug, research must first investigate to understand the physiological occurrences.

"What was so interesting and exciting was that the mice that were treated with DPP-4 inhibitors, a class of drugs used for type 2 diabetes, did not develop inflammation and they maintained good insulin production. They were still obese, but had normal blood sugar, were otherwise healthy and lived longer," Omar said.

Omar explained that the ultimate goal is to develop drugs that will at least offer patients a better quality of life for several years, if it can't cure the disease. Results of the study were published in the journal Diabetologia.