Control of Blood Glucose Concentration Flashcards
All 8 cards in this deck
Which organ monitors and controls blood glucose concentration?
The pancreas.
What are the steps in the response to a blood glucose concentration that is too high?
e.g. after a sugary meal
- The pancreas produces the hormone insulin.
- Insulin causes glucose to move from the blood into the cells.
- In liver and muscle cells excess glucose is converted to glycogen for storage, so blood glucose falls.
What causes Type 1 diabetes and how is it normally treated?
The pancreas fails to produce sufficient insulin, giving uncontrolled high blood glucose; it is normally treated with insulin injections.
True or false? In Type 2 diabetes the pancreas produces no insulin at all.
False. In Type 2 diabetes the body cells no longer respond to the insulin the pancreas produces; treatment is a carbohydrate controlled diet and exercise, and obesity is a risk factor.
Which hormone does the pancreas produce when blood glucose concentration is too low, and what does it do?
Glucagon — it causes glycogen in the liver to be converted into glucose, which is released into the blood.
True or false? Insulin and glucagon have opposite effects and work in a negative feedback cycle to control blood glucose concentration.
True. Insulin lowers blood glucose and glucagon raises it, bringing the concentration back to normal.
On a graph of blood glucose concentration after a meal, how does a person with untreated diabetes differ from a person without diabetes?
Their blood glucose rises higher and stays high, instead of returning to the normal level.
True or false? On a graph for a person without diabetes, blood insulin concentration rises after blood glucose concentration has risen.
True. The pancreas releases insulin in response to the rise in blood glucose.