Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a dangerous complication of Type 1 diabetes, could be managed with the hormone leptin given directly to the brain, according to new research by investigators at the University of Washington School of Medicine recently published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

When the pancreas can’t make insulin, “the brain gets the message that the body is out of fuel, even if it’s not. This information is being communicated in part by a low blood level of the hormone leptin,” senior author Michael Schwartz, M.D., professor of medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said in a news release.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cell

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