preview

How Does Diabetes Mellitus Affect The Individual 's Morbidity And Mortality

Decent Essays

Metabolism is a sequence of biochemical reactions that take place in every single cell and organ to maintain the organism growth, reproduction, damage repair, and adaptation to the surrounding environment. These reactions involve catabolism and anabolism using the major sources of energy: proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Furthermore, any disruption in the regulation of the metabolic processes affects the individual’s morbidity and mortality [1]. Accordingly, in this chapter, we are going to discuss diabetes mellitus, which is one of the main metabolic disorders.
1.1.1 Pancreatic regulation of Blood Glucose
The regulation of the cornerstone of the whole body energy, glucose, in blood stream by the pancreas, specifically the islets of Langerhans, is very critical through the secretion of insulin and glucagon. Insulin, which is secreted from beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in response to high blood glucose levels, has an anabolic effect via its stimulation of glucose uptake in peripheral, skeletal muscle, as well as central, brain, tissues to be stored in the form of glycogen and fat [2]. On the other hand, low glucose levels enhance pancreatic alpha cells secretion of Glucagon that plays the catabolic role through stimulation of stored glycogen breakdown and formation of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources via glycogenolysis and hepatic gluconeogenesis, respectively [2]. This mechanism is well controlled through the opposite secretion of these hormones in response

Get Access