26 - Insulin Signalling and Diabetes Flashcards
How many people have diabetes?
The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1990 to 422 million in 2014
What is the global prevalence of diabetes in adults?
The global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years of age has risen from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014
What type of countries have rising numbers of diabetes?
Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle- and low-income countries
What is diabetes a major cause of?
Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke, and lower limb amputation
How many deaths are linked to diabetes?
In 2016, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes
o Another 2.2 million deaths were attributed to high blood glucose in 2012
Where is diabetes ranked in the leading causes of death?
Almost half of all deaths attributable to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 years
o WHO estimates that diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2016
What ways can you avoid developing type 2 diabetes?
Healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes
How can diabetes be treated?
Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications
Glucose
o Many of the foods we eat are broken down during digestion to this simple sugar
o Glucose is carried to every cell in our body by the blood stream, where is is used as the source of energy for our bodies
Glycogen
o The stored form of glucose is called glycogen
o Glycogen is made up of many connected units of glucose
Insulin
o This hormone is released into the blood when blood glucose levels are high
o It enabled glucose to be transported into the cell in some tissues
What happens when glucose levels are high in the blood?
When glucose levels are high in the blood, insulin is secreted from the pancreas which enhances the normal uptake of glucose into certain cells and tissues, particularly muscle
What events does insulin switch between?
Insulin switches between anabolic and catabolic events so when insulin is released it interacts with its receptor and causes upregulation of glucose uptake into muscle and fat
What does insulin stimulate in the liver?
In the liver it stimulates glycogen synthesis, glucose is taken up by the liver and stored as a polymer
Glucagon
o This hormone is released into the blood when blood glucose levels ae low
o It enables glucose to be released from some tissues back into the blood stream
Pancreas and diabetes
Pancreas: one of the major players in glucose homeostasis, the pancreas releases the hormones, insulin and glucagon, that control blood glucose
- The cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are cells and those that produce glucagon are cells
- An endocrine organ dedicated to the fluctuation of blood glucose levels
- The beta cells are destroyed in type 1 diabetes
Liver and diabetes
o Liver: takes up glucose when levels are high and releases glucose when levels are low
- it stores glucose in chains as glycogen
- it is key for glucose regulation
- central organ for controlling levels of blood glucose in the body
Mechanism of Insulin production
- nucleus - preproinsulin (INS) –> preproinsulin mRNA
- rough ER - preproinsulin
- trans-golgi network - proinsulin
- immature secretory granules - insulin
- mature secretory granules - insulin (hexameter/crystal)
Which organ expresses insulin?
The pancreas expresses the insulin gene which produces preproinsulin mRNA which is translated into preproinsulin
What is preproinsulin?
The preproinsulin is a single peptide chain comprised of an A, B, and C chain which are linked together with a signal peptide
What does the signal peptide do?
- the signal peptide makes sure the preproinsulin is trafficked to the golgi network where it is further processed
- it is folded, disulfide bonds are formed and we have the singal peptide cleaved off in the trans-golgi network, making proinsulin