Pancreas Flashcards
Which organ is especially sensitive to low glucose levels?
The brain, as it cannot use triglycerides
Why is the pancreatic tumour the most difficult to operate on?
pancreas is placed just anterior to the aorta and portal vein
what innervates the pancreas?
vagus nerve
Endocrine cells in pancreas
islets of Langerhans
What four regulatory polypeptides do they secrete?
Insulin, glucagon, somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide
Structures of islets of Langerhans
clusters of around 1000 endocrine cells
make up 1-2% of pancreatic volume
organised as a rosetta cell, with a large variety of cells
cells in rosetta + function
alpha cells- secrete glucagon
beta cells- secrete insulin
delta cells- secrete somatostatin
F cells- secrete pancreatic polypeptide
Rough organisation of cells in rosetta
60-75% beta of the centre of each islet
20% alpha- tend to surround beta
less common delta and F cells surround that
surrounded by pancreatic acini
Function of pancreatic acinar cells
exocrine function, that produce and transport enzymes that are passed into the duodenum where they assist in the digestion of food
Two main functional components of the pancreas explained
exocrine- acinar cells secerete digestive enzymes
endocrine- islets of Langerhans secrete hormones
Experiment to determine the organisation of cells in the rosetta
fluorescently tag proteins that bind to the different, specific receptors
able to visualise
humans have scattered, mice have predominantly ring of glucagon and large centre of insulin
secretion of insulin stages
- Synthesised in the rough ER of B cells
- transported to golgi where it is packaged into membane bound granules
- granules move to plasma membrane via microtubules
- granules removed by exocytosis, where insulin then enters blood stream via fenestrated capillaries
Biosynthesis of insulin stages
- synthesised as a part of a larger preprohormone
- preproinsulin is produced by the ER
- molecule is then folded and disulfide bridges form to make proinsulin
- The connecting C peptide is cleaved in the golgi
Why is the preprohormone secreted?
More stable
How much insulin is released per secretory granule?
8fg
Structure of B cell granules
packets of insulin found in the cytoplasm
shape of packets varies dependent on species
insulin molecules form complexes with zinc
Half life of insulin
5 minutes
What type of function?
endocrine
How fast is insulin action?
It can be fast, intermediate or slow
Different glucose transporters + where they act
GLUT1- plasma membranes of all cells, associated with basal uptake of glucose
GLUT2- small intestine, renal tubules, hepatocytes, brain and B cells
GLUT3- ubiquitous
GLUT4- skeletal and cardiac muscle, adipose tissue
GLUT5- mainly gut
What is transported by each GLUT channel?
GLUT1- glucose, galactose, mannose
GLUT2- glucose, fructose
GLUT3- glucose
GLUT4- glucose
GLUT5- fructose
What leads to sugar toxicity?
Specificity of channels. Fructose cannot be taken up by muscle tissue and adipose, therefore must be broken down by liver. If too much, can lead to toxic effects
Which Glucose transporter is under the control of insulin?
GLUT4
Why is the cleaved C protein very important?
Longer half life than insulin and produced in the same quantities, so can be measured in the blood, to determine whether an individual lacks insulin- may suggest diabetes mellitus 1
What leads to the release of insulin?
raised blood glucose, amino acids and hormones, such as GLP and nervous inputs
Mechanism by which insulin is release
Insulin release is diphasic