Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Patients with type 2 diabetes secrete not only too little insulin but also too much glucagon, which contributes to poor blood glucose control. A new study from Uppsala University suggests that this is because the glucagon-secreting α-cells have become resistant to insulin.
In healthy individuals, insulin signals the body to absorb glucose, thereby reducing the sugar in the blood and providing energy to tissues. In patients with type 2 diabetes this mechanism fails, because the glucose-absorbing tissues become resistant to insulin and because too little of the hormone is released into the blood. This leads to elevated blood glucose and long-term complications that often become disabling or even life-threatening.
In healthy individuals, insulin signals the body to absorb glucose, thereby reducing the sugar in the blood and providing energy to tissues. In patients with type 2 diabetes this mechanism fails, because the glucose-absorbing tissues become resistant to insulin and because too little of the hormone is released into the blood. This leads to elevated blood glucose and long-term complications that often become disabling or even life-threatening.
Type 2 diabetes: Too much glucagon?
Patients with type 2 diabetes secrete not only too little insulin but also too much glucagon, which contributes to poor blood glucose control.
www.sciencedaily.com