Pancreas Flashcards
Exocrine
secretions get dropped into a duct and the duct takes it to where it needs to go

endocrine
dump secretions into blood and they go everywhere

Anatomy of pancreas
- Head- mostly exocrine
- body- mostly endocrine
- Tail

Islets of Langerhans
Group of Endocrine cells
- alpha- releases glucagon (18-20% of endocrine cells)
- beta- releases insulin (73-75% of endocrine cells)
- delta- somatostatin (4-6% of endocrine cells)

What stimulates insulin secretion?
glucose
What inhibits glucagon secretion?
insulin
What is insulin composed of?
What is it synthesized from?
- Insulin is a peptide hormone
- composed of A and B chain joined by disulfide bonds
- synthesis: preproinsulin→proinsulin→insulin + c peptide
What is the half life of insulin?
where is it metabolized?
3-8 minutes
degraded by liver and kidney
What does C-peptide measurement indicate?
Half life of C-peptied?
C-peptide is measured as an index of endocrine capacity of the pancreas
about 15 minutes
What is the process for insulin secretion?
- glucose enters beta cell through GLUT2 transporter by diffusion
- glucose goes through glycolysis, turning ADP into ATP
- ATP is the ligand for the K channel. K channel closes.
- cell starts to depolarize with K channel closed
- Once cell depolarizes to threshold of voltage gated calcium channel, Ca channel opens and Ca rushes in
- Calcium causes release of insulin vesicles and the making of more insulin

When is glucagon released?
What is the target organ for glucagon?
when insulin levels are low
Target: liver
How does glucagon work when it gets to the liver?
- Glucagon binds to a GCPR (Gs)
- GPCR stimulates adenylyl cyclase and increases cAMP and thus PKA to phosphorylate target proteins
How does insulin get glucose into the cell?
- insulin binds to the GPCR
- GLUT4 transporter is recruited to the plasma membrane and facilitates glucose into the cell along with amino acids, K, Mg, and Phosphate.
GLUT1
widely distributed; gets glucose into cells all over
GLUT2
- found on Beta cells, kidney, intestines, liver
- low affinity, high capacity
- does not rely on insulin to transport glucose
GLUT3
supplies neurons with glucose
GLUT4
- Found in muscle and fat
- depends on insulin to get glucose into the cells
GLUT5
Intestines
can also transport fructose
SGLT1, SGLT2
Sodium dependent glucose transporters
found in Intestines and Kidney
Na-glucose co-transporters
Effects of insulin
- decreased appetite
- decreased glucagon
- increased glucose uptake by muscles and fat
- increased glycolysis
- increased glycogen synthesis
- increased triglyceride synthesis
- increased amino acid uptake
- increased protein synthesis
Effects of lack of Insulin
primarily because of glucagon
- increased appetite
- increased glucagon
- decreased glucose uptake by muscle and fat
- increase blood glucose
- increase gluconeogenesis
- increased lipolysis
- increased protein breakdown
- increase glycogenolysis
- Increase ketone body production
- decrease protein synthesis
What happens to:
insulin
glucagon
free fatty acids
blood glucose
liver glycogen
blood ketone bodies
As hours of starvation increases?

Type 1 Diabetes mellitus
Autoimmune destruction of Beta cells
about 10% of diabetes
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Insulin resistance
about 90%