Diabetes is a disease caused by malfunctions in glucose metabolism. It is the malfunctioning of beta cells of the pancreas, which causes an over or under production of insulin, or the cells become insulin- resistant. The pancreas is the organ in the body located partially behind the stomach composed of millions of cells called pancreatic islets, or islets of Langerhans. These islets contain two major hormone- producing cells which are the alpha cells and the beta cells. The alpha cells synthesize glucagon and the beta cells synthesize insulin. These cells secrete glucagon and insulin, especially during the period of fasting and fed states. Glucagon and insulin are both involved in regulating blood glucose levels. Insulin is the main factor …show more content…
Insulin not only functions in lowering blood glucose levels. It also plays a role in protein and fat metabolism, which can cause other conditions and problems besides diabetes if there is an over or under production of the hormone. Insulin regulates blood glucose levels through a negative feedback mechanism. When blood glucose levels rise after eating for example, the insulin in the pancreas may stimulate two places. It can stimulate glycogen formation in the liver, which converts glucose into glycogen, a stored from of glucose. When glucose is stored, this allows the blood glucose to fall to normal range. The other way is that insulin stimulates glucose uptake by tissue cells and allows blood glucose to fall back to normal range. The normal blood glucose level is about 90 mg/ 100ml. Circulating insulin lowers blood glucose levels in three ways. It can enhance membrane e transport of glucose into most body cells, inhibit the catabolic breakdown of glycogen to glucose, or inhibit the conversion of amino acids or fats to glucose. These effects counter any metabolic activity that would increase plasma levels of …show more content…
People are diagnosed with pre- diabetes when blood glucose levels are abnormally high but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. Therefore, those diagnosed with pre- diabetes have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease if they do not take initiative in a healthier lifestyle and being more physically active. Pre- diabetes are mostly found in overweight people in general, especially those who are not physically active, have previous identification of impaired glucose tolerance, have a family history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, and have elevated blood
Insulin resistance is the first physiological change occurring in type two diabetes. In these type two diabetic patients, insulin is unable to move glucose into liver, kidney and muscle cells although insulin is able to attach properly to the cell surface receptors. In order to rectify this, most patients with type two diabetes start secreting normal to very high levels of insulin, which can initially overcome this resistance. After a while, the pancreas cannot keep up with this high insulin production and the cells become resistant to glucose intake. Persistent hyperglycemia or high blood glucose levels are not desirable since this causes damage to the beta cells of the pancreas that produces the insulin hormone. This damage to beta cells further hampers insulin synthesis and patients at this stage are categorized as full-blown diabetic. Such patients consistently show a hyperglycemia state even after hours of fasting ( Hinkle & Cheever,
Diabetes is a disease in which the body has an inability to produce any or enough insulin which will cause the blood sugar to spike or rise rapidly. There are two different types of diabetes as mentioned The first type is type one which is when the person’s pancreas cannot produce any insulin cells at all and when it comes to type two, their body produces some insulin but due to reasons like weight or food habits, their body can’t produce enough properly. All in all, people with both types of diabetes struggle to produce insulin. “ The stomach and small intestine convert the carbohydrates you eat into glucose, a kind of sugar. Glucose is the body’s main fuel. When released into the bloodstream as “blood sugar,” glucose circulates through the body and feeds the cells. Insulin enables cells to take that glucose in.”(Teen Health and Wellness). This is important because everyone in the world has this
Type 2 diabetes is originated from Obesity. Having the third highest rate of Obesity in my community, it is likely that majority of obese people will be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Society makes it easy for us to be overweight, advertising many of the wrong foods and many of the fast food restaurants we tend to be surrounded by which Is why it’s not an easy option for those trying to prevent type 2 diabetes. There are many complications with type 2 diabetes. It affects many organs including the heart, organ, blood, vessels and nerves, eyes and kidneys. It is an issue because it increases the risks of heart and blood vessel diseases, nerve damages, Kidney damages, eye damages, foot damages, hearing impairment, skin conditions etc. Many symptoms gained
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a condition in the body that is related to a faulty metabolism. It means that the body’s metabolism is not functioning properly, which leads to adverse effects in the health. The food we ingest, gets broken down into blood sugar (glucose), which is what fuels our body in the form of energy. This converted glucose needs to enter our cells so that it can be used for energy and growth. And in order for the glucose to enter our cells, there needs to be insulin present, which the beta cells of the pancreas is responsible for producing. This hormone is responsible for maintaining glucose level in the blood. It allows the body cells to use glucose as a main
Insulin deficiency refers to when a person fails to secrete adequate levels of insulin during digestion of meals (Naseem et al., 2012). Producing adequate levels of insulin is essential for being able to overcome the increase of glucose levels in the body while eating, this is achieved by sending signals to the liver to reduce its production of endogenous glucose. However, after prolonged exposure to this disease, this affects the ability of β-cells to respond to rises in glucose levels. (Mazze, Strock, Simonson, & Bergenstal, 2004, p. 80). Located in the pancreas, β-cells, or Beta cells, are responsible for the production and storage of insulin (Resnick, 2014).
In anatomy we are learning about the human body which is including the function and structure of cells and how the cells are regulated. In the case of diabetes there is a problem with the hormone insulin which results in irregular metabolism of carbohydrates and prominent levels of glucose in the blood and urine. There are two types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is sometimes known as juvenile diabetes, this type is where the body does not produce insulin. Type 2 is due to obesity which can be regulated and controlled by diet and exercise.
Diabetes is caused when a person’s blood sugar level becomes too high. This is often described as a lifelong condition. There are two types of Diabetes within the UK; Type 1 Diabetes, where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that the body uses to produce insulin. This can develop over weeks or even days. Type 2 Diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to insulin. Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1. Many people can suffer from type 2 Diabetes for many years without realising due to symptoms being so broad. Many people have blood sugar levels above the normal rate. This suggests that there is a risk of developing full diabetes in the future. However, sometimes it is not high enough to be diagnosed as having diabetes. This is known as pre-diabetes. It is extremely important to diagnosis diabetes as soon as possible as it progressively gets worse over time if it’s not treated (NHS.UK, 2016). There are many risk factors that can have the likelihood impact on developing diabetes, such as in males or females, food preferences, pregnancy, obesity, genetics, damaging effects and race and ethnicity. These risk factors and their trends will be discussed in depth later in this essay.
Pre-diabetes: is a condition characterized by slightly elevated blood glucose level, which is called Impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) are intermediate stages in diabetes and a person with pre-diabetes can be at risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes. ”Hyperglycemia when not high enough to meet diagnosis of diabetes mellitus but greater than normal values is categorized as either impaired fasting glucose, or impaired glucose tolerance depending on whether it is determined through fasting glucose”. Both IFG and IGT are termed pre-diabetes and constitute risk factors for future diabetes and cardiovascular
Insulin is a hormone that is made by the pancreas. It is disbursed after you eat and glucose is detected in your blood stream. The insulin attaches itself to your body’s cells and signals for them to absorb the sugar. From there, it decreases your body’s blood sugar.
When blood-glucose levels rise, there is an increase in soluble glucose molecules in the blood and is detected by the beta cells of the pancreas in the islets of Langerhans of the endocrine tissue. Beta cells respond to hyperglycaemic stimuli by producing a hormone called insulin which stimulates cells, especially adipose and muscle cells, to take up soluble glucose molecules from the blood. Insulin is a short protein consisting of a string of amino acids with a particular shape. Insulin responds to this hyperglycaemic change by converting individual glucose molecules to form polysaccharide molecules called glycogen, which is stored in the liver and muscles and triggering glucose transporter molecules to gate glucose into the cell.[1] This process is called glycogenesis. Beta cells are the only cells in the body that produce insulin that enters the bloodstream straight away. The stored insoluble glycogen causes the amount of glucose present in the bloodstream to decrease and therefore insulin has a hypoglycaemic effect on the body. The mitochondria of cells require glucose to drive cellular processes such as muscle movement, and the glucose metabolized
As can been seen in the diagram above, Insulin acts as an extracellular signalling molecule, attaching itself to receptors on the membrane of cells. This communicates a signal which triggers receptor proteins, Gluts, to allow the transfusion of glucose through the plasma membrane. This process causes a steady drop in blood glucose concentration and gives cells the necessary energy to function. Glucagon acts as a hormone which can raise the blood glucose level by stimulating the conversion of glycogen into glucose as seen in the equation below. Glycogen is stored in the liver as an energy storage polysaccharide, however it must by broken down into glucose, as a monosaccharide, before it can become usable. Glucagon and insulin act as increase/ decrease effectors of a feedback system in order to maintain glucose concentration in the blood between about 80 and 130 mg/dl.
In the pancreas, there are specialized cells that form small islands of cells, called "islets of Langerhans," that are alpha cells and beta cells. In these endocrine cells, they release pancreatic hormones, such as insulin and glucagon that diffuse into the bloodstream to regulate glucose levels. Beta cells secretes insulin, which regulates carbohydrate, protein, fat metabolism and storage. On the other hand, alpha cells secrete glucagon, in which it breaks down stored sugar (glycogenolysis). Without enough production of insulin, glucose remains in the blood that generates an increase levels of sugar in the blood.
Prediabetes is described as having a fasting blood glucose level higher than normal, but not elevated to the level of the classification of diabetes (CDC, 2014; CDC 2015) Normal blood glucose level is considered to be less than 100 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter), and diabetes is diagnosed when the blood glucose level rises above 126 mg/dL. Prediabetes falls in between at a level 100-125 mg/dL. Individuals with prediabetes are at a higher risk of heart disease and other complications than those without prediabetes (Dorman et al., 2012)
Glucose is the main source of energy that our bodies rely on, and we can store any excess glucose that we do not use. The organ that deals with the storage and release of glucose is the pancreas. When there is a larger amount of glucose than usual, the pancreas will work harder to store, convert, or eliminate the excess. Unfortunately, when this high amount of glucose is constantly present, the pancreas will produce more of a hormone into the blood stream called insulin, which is responsible for storing glucose in
Answer 1: the insulin and glucagon works together, they keep the glucose levels in the blood within the normal range. One of the main functions of insulin is to facilitate the uptake of glucose by body cells, the liver will then uptake the glucose and store it as glycogen, blood glucose returns to its normal levels due these action. Whenever there is decrease in blood glucose, insulin stimulates the alpha cells in the pancreas to produce enough glucagon. The conversation of glycogen to glucose happens whenever the glucagon travels to the liver. The release of glucose in the bloodstream returns levels back to normal.