Glucose homeostasis, insulin action

Taken together, these data emphasize the importance of insulin action in the liver for glucose homeostasis, in the regulation of insulin secretion from (3-cells and indicate that the INSR plays an important role in the central regulation of body weight and reproduction [4, 5]. 

The endocrine islet cells comprise only 1-2% of the pancreatic tissue. They synthesize the hormones insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide. Insulin and glucagon maintain glucose homeostasis via their actions on lipid, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism. The pancreas originates from two patches of epithelium in the duodenum during the fifth week of gestation in humans. The endocrine pancreatic cells begin to differentiate very... 

Hannan, J.M., Ali, L., Rokeya, B., Khaleque, J., Akhter, M., Flatt, P.R. and Abdel-Wahab, Y.H. (2007) Soluble dietary fibre fraction of Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) seed improves glucose homeostasis in animal models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes by delaying carbohydrate digestion and absorption, and enhancing insulin action. British Journal of Nutrition 97(3), 51 4-521. 

Kahn CR Glucose homeostasis and insulin action, in Becker KL (ed) Principles and Practice of Endocrinology and Metabolism. 3rd ed. Lippin-cott Williams and Wilkins, 2001, pp. 1303-1306. 

To sum up the essential life-supporting function of insulin is the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. The question therefore is, how is insulin doing that We shall focus therefore on transport and metabolism of glucose and its control by insulin. Thus the scope of this chapter is quite narrow, dealing only with insulin actions. Although the classical human type 2 diabetes mellitus is caused by both an impairment of insulin... 

Diabetes Melllitus A disease caused by a deficiency in the action of insulin in the body, resulting either from low insulin levels or from inadequate insulin levels combined with unresponsiveness of the target cells to insulin. The disease is manifested primarily by disturbances in fuel homeostasis, including hyperglycemia (abnormally high blood glucose levels). 

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