Insulin signal transduction pathway (also known as glucose homeostasis) also exhibits oscillatory behavior. On a pathological basis, this topic is crucial to understanding certain disorders in the body such as diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. The functioning of a signal transduction pathway is based on extra-cellular signaling that in turn creates a response which causes other subsequent responses, hence creating a chain reaction, or cascade. During the course of signaling, the cell uses each response for accomplishing some kind of a purpose along the way. Insulin secretion mechanism is a common example of signal transduction pathway mechanism. Insulin is produced by the pancreas in a
Insulin resistance (generally caused by insulin resistance), this down-regulation acts as a kind of positive feedback, increasing the need for insulin. Exercise reverses this process in muscle tissue, but if it is left unchecked, it may contribute to insulin resistance. Elevated blood levels of glucose—regardless of cause—lead to increased glycation of proteins with changes, only a few of which are understood in any detail, in protein function throughout the body. Insulin resistance often is found in people with visceral adiposity (i.e., a high degree of fatty tissue within the abdomen—as distinct from subcutaneous adiposity or fat between the skin and the muscle