O ptimal treatment of type 1 diabetes should achieve normoglycemia at all times, without risk of hypoglycemia. Such a treatment should dramatically reduce or prevent diabetes complications and significantly improve patients' quality of life. This goal may be accomplished through pancreatic or islet cell transplantation, but availability of these tissues is limited, survival and function are unpredictable, and longterm immunosuppressive therapy is required (1). The potential for an automated closed-loop system, or artificial -cell, to achieve round-the-clock glycemic control, has not been fully explored.An artificial -cell requires a glucose sensor, an insulindelivery pump, and an algorithm for calculating insulin delivery. Technological and scientific advances have made sensors and pumps available, but linking the two as a "closed loop" has been challenging (2). Lingering questions remain regarding the suitability of different glucosesensing sites (subcutaneous versus intravascular), insulindelivery sites (subcutaneous versus intravascular versus intraperitoneal), and sensor reliability. In addition, no one algorithm has been universally accepted as optimal for insulin delivery (3).Herein, we describe the feasibility of achieving glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes using a system comprised of a subcutaneous glucose sensor, an external insulin pump, and an algorithm emulating the -cell's multiphasic glucose-induced insulin release (4 -6). ). Subjects had been treated with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) using Lispro insulin (Lilly, Indianapolis, IN) for at least 6 months before study enrollment and were required to have an HbA 1c Ͻ9%. Data from a previously published study (7) characterizing insulin secretion over a 24-h period in nondiabetic subjects are included for comparison of the glucose profiles (n ϭ 17) obtained with a similar diet. The study was approved by the University of California, Los Angeles Institutional Review Board, and all patients gave written informed consent.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSGlycemic control under CSII therapy was characterized over a 3-day outpatient period using a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) (Medtronic MiniMed, Northridge, CA). The CGMS records sensor current every 5 min and glucose profiles are obtained retrospectively (8). Patients were instructed to keep their daily routine but to take a minimum of seven fingerstick blood glucose readings per day (preprandial and 2-h postprandial and at bedtime) with their home glucose meters. Patients were also instructed to record meal carbohydrate content, physical activity, and any hypoglycemic episodes or supplemental carbohydrate in a logbook.To evaluate the closed-loop insulin delivery system, patients were admitted to the general clinical research center at ϳ5:00 P.M., and their insulin pump was replaced with a Medtronic 511 Paradigm Pump capable of communicating telemetrically with a laptop computer. Two subcutaneous glucose sensors were inserted in the abdominal area and connected to...