ABSTRACT
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed by the body's immune system. Insulin is a growth hormone that enables cells to take up glucose, which can be used immediately for energy or stored for future use. The ideal solution to this would be to implement a "closed-loop" system that would work as an artificial pancreas. This system would allow communication between an insulin pump and a glucose sensor and react to these variations in measured glucose by responding quickly to cover insulin needs. The discoveries led to the widespread use of subcutaneous insulin pumps, which have become the standard method of insulin delivery in artificial pancreas research. In a similar way, artificial pancreas systems can be classified by the clinical challenges that they address. However, some researchers have begun studying pramlintide in bihormonal artificial pancreas systems in the hope that the benefits of closed-loop control could outweigh pramlintide's drawbacks.
