Why are human cadavers not the best source for insulin?

Answer 1

This is a complicated question that I'll try to answer simply. Studies have been done that have successfully used cadavers as a means of insulin production in living people, as a new source of insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, and it is produced by beta cells found in what is known as the Islets of Langerhans. Insulin is secreted by the beta cells and inhibits alpha cells, and moves glucose into the cells and activates glycogen formation, which is important for diabetics.

That being said, successful transplants have been done, as reported in the Harvard University Gazette, by transplanting islet cells from nondiabetic cadavers into living people with Diabetes. Canada specialists have done this in patients who have gone for as long as a year and a half without having to inject themselves with insulin; however, there is one problem. Hundreds of millions of people have the disease, and tens of thousands of new cases are documented each year. That being said, there are just not enough cadavers out there, so that if the transplanting of the islets continued to be successful and common, there would not be enough cadavers to help everyone. Medical studies show that it takes two cadavers to obtain enough of the insulin producing cells to make one successful transplant. With tens of thousands of new cases of people becoming diabetic each year, and only having around an approximated 3,000 cadavers suitable for the extraction of these cells each year, there just isn't enough to go around.

So for now, insulin that has to be injected into the body is the only best way to supply all insulin dependent diabetics with medication to sustain their lives.