This is the aim of metabolic engineering laboratory and diabetes at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona (IRBB) led by the center director, Joan Guinovart. The researcher explained on 6 May in the framework of the seminars of IDIBELL how accumulation of glycogen may be beneficial in some tissues such as liver and harmful in cells such as neurons where it can be lethal.

With a film analogy, Guinovart has compared the glycogen metabolism with the movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” starring by Clint Eastwood. “The synthesis and accumulation of glycogen in the liver contributes to reduce hyperglycemia, thus enhancing the synthesis in this organ may help treat diabetes. This would be the ‘good’. In regard to ‘bad’ Guinovart explained that glycogen induces neuronal death: “It has been shown that neurons can synthesize glycogen, but is a function that normally remains completely inactive by two proteins: malin and laforin. When one of these two fails, neurons synthesizes glycogen and it accumulates in the Lafora bodies, present in patients of neurodegenerative disease with the same name”.

And finally, Guinovart has told about ‘ugly’ glycogen, referring to those abnormal accumulations in some cells such as astrocytes forming what is called ‘corporea amylacea”. IRBB researcher said that it has not been shown to be harmful and they could be related to aging.

In recent years, the laboratory of Joan Guinovart has begun working with genetically modified animal models who are unable to synthesize glycogen, “with this model and other models that synthesize too much, we could study how glycogen metabolism affects different tissues and what are the advantages and disadvantages of glycogen accumulation or not, and how we can apply our findings in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes or Lafora disease.”