Lecture 37: Diabetes

Question 1

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

What are the long term complication?

Answer 1

Symptoms
= fatigue; weight loss; intense thirst; frequent urination; hyperglycaemia; glycosuria; ketones
Long term complications
= retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease

Question 2

What are the effect that insulin has on the body?

- effects on metabolism

Answer 2

= promotes cellular uptake and storage of glucose by muscle and adipose tissue

• glucose uptake in muscle and adipose tissue
• protein synthesis
• glycogen synthesis
• TAG uptake and fatty acid synthesis

Question 3

what are the metabolic consequences when there is no insulin?

Answer 3

• impaired glucose uptake and storage by muscle
• increased mobilisation of glycogen
• increased glucose synthesis
• increased lipolysis
• increased ketone body synthesis
• reduced removal fo triacylglycerols from blood
• increased breakdown of tissue protein

Question 4

How do blood glucose levels differ from a normal person compared to a person with diabetes?
- normal person

Answer 4

Normal person
- in a normal person, blood glucose concentration is back to normal within 1 hour after a mean
Diabetic person
- blood glucose is always higher than normal
- fluctuates more markedly throughout the day

Question 5

What is insulin?

Answer 5

• peptide hormone
• synthesised in pancreas B cells
• secreted in response to high glucose (after a meal)
• acts on liver, muscle and adipose tissue

Question 6

How do you treat Type 2 diabetes?

Answer 6

Tissues resistant to insulin - aim to increase sensitivity of tissues to insulin by:

• weight loss
• increased exercise
• hypoglycaemic drugs: sulphonylureas, glitazones

Question 7

How do you treat Type 1 diabetes?

Answer 7

= autoimmune diorder - attacks B cells which produce insulin

• injections of human insulin
• aim to mimic normal rise in insulin caused by meals
• hypoglycaemia causes by too much insulin
• coma when glucose