Michael R. Rickels, MD, MS
Professor of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Featured in the Session: The New Frontier of Hypoglycemia Prevention: Pathophysiology, Therapies, Technology, and Care
When
Sunday, June 7
at 1:30 p.m.
Where
R07 (Level 2)
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
What is your presentation about?
Hypoglycemia affects almost all individuals living with type 1 diabetes, however, its severity varies greatly by individual and worsens with diabetes duration. Defects that develop in epinephrine secretion and autonomic symptom recognition in response to hypoglycemia are often presumed to happen together, but in fact a discordance exists between the development and recovery of impaired epinephrine and autonomic symptoms. In addition, heterogeneity in the impact of hypoglycemia exposure on the development of impaired awareness of hypoglycemia may be explained by individual variation in interoception and the ability to consciously perceive and attend to bodily sensations.
How do you hope your presentation will impact diabetes research or care?
Improved understanding how hypoglycemia association autonomic failure involves non-synonymous defects in both epinephrine secretion that contributes to impaired glucose counterregulation and in autonomic symptom recognition that contributes to impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH), that for individuals with IAH achieving strict avoidance of hypoglycemia is necessary for recovery of the epinephrine response to physiologically defend against the development of low blood glucose, and that interoception may offer a novel target for interventions aimed at restoring awareness of hypoglycemia.
How did you become involved with this area of diabetes research or care?
I have a long-standing interest investigating novel technologies and islet cell therapies aimed at ameliorating hypoglycemia and understanding the mechanisms for restoring physiologic glucose counterregulation to defend against the development of low blood glucose.