Blood glucose regulation + diabetes

what is blood glucose concentration?

the amount of sugar in our bloodstream

why is blood glucose regulation necessary?

because we all need sugar/glucose in our blood for respiration but if it gets too high it will cause water to move out of cells causing them to shrivel and die and it can cause net loss of glucose in the urine

what happens when blood glucose concentration gets too high?

the pancreas detects this change, and in response it releases insulin into the bloodstream

insulin then binds onto receptors on certain cells and tells them to take in some of the excess glucose

mostly the liver and muscle cells take in this glucose, they combine the glucose molecules together to form glycogen

as glucose is being taken out of the bloodstream and being stored, the blood sugar conc decreaes and returns back to normal levels

what happens when blood glucose levels get too low

pancreas detects the low blood glucose and secretes glucagon into the bloodstream

as it travels around the body it binds to lots of different cells but mainly liver cells

the liver cells take the glycogen and break it down into lots of glucose molecules again and release them into the bloodstream increasing the blood glucose levels and bringing the levels back to normal

what is type one diabetes?

an autoimmune, life long disease that causes the pancreas to stop making insulin or produces too little, generally first presents itself as a child or early teen

how can type one diabetes be controlled

1. insulin injections into the thigh or abdomen (eg. after a meal) the amount of insulin injected depends on what they’ve eaten and their levels of physical activity

2. excercise, because when you excercise the muscles absorb more glucose from the blood so regular excercise means less insulin is needed

type two diabetes

happens to older people that have had an unhealthy diet for a long period of time, then their body becomes resistant to insulin, so insulin injections wouldn’t help as their body cells stop responding to insulin

how can type two diabetes be controlled?

1. a carbohydrate controlled diet

2. excercise regime