Glycolysis cholesterol synthesis, two important ways of utilizing excess glucose when its concentration is high in blood. The rate limiting enzymes catalyzing these reactions perform these functions when they have been dephosphorylated through the action of insulin on the liver cells. Between meals, during fasting, exercise or hypoglycemia, glucagon and epinephrine are released into the blood. This causes liver glycogen to be converted back to G6P, and then converted to glucose by the liver-specific enzyme glucose 6-phosphatase and released into the blood. Glucagon and epinephrine also stimulate gluconeogenesis, which coverts non-carbohydrate substrates into G6P, which joins the G6P derived from glycogen,
Glucose addition, there is also a hormone-independent regulation, which is referred to as glucose autoregulation. After food intake the blood sugar concentration increases. Values over 180 mg/dl in venous whole blood are pathological and are termed hyperglycemia, values below 40 mg/dl are termed hypoglycaemia. When needed, glucose is released into the bloodstream by glucose-6-phosphatase from glucose-6-phosphate originating from liver and kidney glycogen, thereby regulating the homeostasis of blood glucose concentration. In ruminants, the blood glucose concentration is lower (60 mg/dL in cattle and 40 mg/dL in sheep), because the carbohydrates are converted more by their gut flora into short-chain fatty acids.