Christian de Duve glucagon was the major hormone influencing the breakdown of glycogen (glycogenolysis) in the liver, by which more sugars are produced in the blood. De Duve's original hypothesis that glucagon was produced by pancreatic alpha cells was proved right when it was demonstrated that selectively cobalt-damage alpha cells stopped producing glucagon in guinea pigs, and finally isolated the purified hormone in 1953, including those from birds. De Duve was the first to hypothesise that production of insulin to decrease blood sugar level stimulated the uptake of glucose in the liver, and that there is a balanced production of insulin and glucagon
Glucose major facilitator superfamily. In the small intestine (more precisely, in the jejunum), glucose is taken up into the intestinal epithelial cells with the help of glucose transporters via a secondary active transport mechanism called sodium ion-glucose symport via the sodium/glucose cotransporter 1. The further transfer occurs on the basolateral side of the intestinal epithelial cells via the glucose transporter GLUT2, as well as their uptake into liver cells, kidney cells, cells of the islets of Langerhans, nerve cells, astrocytes and tanyocytes. Glucose enters the liver via the vena portae and is stored there as a cellular glycogen. In the liver