glucose can be found in the body in the blood.
glucose can be found in the body in the blood.
where can glucose be found in the body?
in the blood
diabetes is a metabolic disorder where the body is unable to regulate levels of glucose in the blood either because of a lack of insulin in the body or the failure, by cells in the body, to respond properly to insulin. each of these situations can be caused by persistently high elevations of blood glucose levels, through pancreatic burnout and insulin resistance. the pancreas is the organ responsible for the secretion of the hormones insulin and glucagon. insulin is a hormone that regulates glucose levels, allowing the body's cells to absorb and use glucose. without it, glucose cannot enter the cell and therefore cannot be used as fuel for the body's functions. if the pancreas is exposed to persistently high elevations of blood glucose levels, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas could be damaged, causing a lack of insulin in the body. insulin resistance occurs when the pancreas tries to produce more and more insulin in response to persistently elevated blood glucose levels. eventually, the rest of the body becomes resistant to the insulin that the pancreas is producing, thereby requiring more insulin to achieve the same blood glucose-lowering effect, and forcing the pancreas to produce even more insulin to compete with the resistance. this negative spiral contributes to pancreatic burnout, and the disease progression of diabetes.
glucose
if blood glucose levels are high, the body needs a way to store the excess glucose. after being converted to g6p, the molecule can be turned into glucose-1-phosphate by phosphoglucomutase. glucose-1-phosphate can then be combined with uridine triphosphate (utp) to form udp-glucose, driven by the hydrolysis of utp, releasing phosphate. now, the activated udp-glucose can add to a growing glycogen molecule with the help of glycogen synthase. this is a very efficient storage mechanism for glucose since it costs the body only 1 atp to store the 1 glucose molecule and virtually no energy to remove it from storage. it is important to note that glucose-6-phosphate is an allosteric activator of glycogen synthase, which makes sense because when the level of glucose is high the body should store the excess glucose as glycogen. on the other hand, glycogen synthase is inhibited when it is phosphorylated by protein kinase during times of high stress or low levels of blood glucose, via hormone induction by glucagon or adrenaline.
glucose 6-phosphate