News tagged with insulin
Soft spheres settle in somewhat surprising structure
Latex paints and drug suspensions such as insulin or amoxicillin that do not need to be shaken or stirred may be possible thanks to a new understanding of how particles separate in liquids, according to Penn ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jul 24, 2011 |
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Blue light enables genes to turn on
(Medical Xpress) -- With a combination of synthetic biology and optogenetics, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology published a paper in Science outlining their new technique which enable ...
Jun 24, 2011 |
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Transcription factors don't act like an 'on-off' switch, exhibit more complex binding behavior: study
Anyone who's tried a weekend home improvement project knows that to do a job right, you've got to have the right tools. For cells, these "tools" are proteins encoded by genes. The right genes for the job are turned on only ...
Apr 11, 2012 |
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New stem cell line provides safe, prolific source for disease modeling and transplant studies
Researchers have generated a new type of human stem cell that can develop into numerous types of specialized cells, including functioning pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Called endodermal progenitor (EP) cells, ...
Apr 05, 2012 |
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Red wine, fruit compound could help block fat cell formation
(PhysOrg.com) -- A compound found in red wine, grapes and other fruits, and similar in structure to resveratrol, is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential ...
Apr 04, 2012 |
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Knocking out key protein in mice boosts insulin sensitivity
By knocking out a key regulatory protein, scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland dramatically boosted ...
Nov 10, 2011 |
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Protein love triangle key to crowning bees queens?
A honey bee becomes a royal queen or a common worker as a result of the food she receives as a larva. While it has been well established that royal jelly is the diet that makes bees queens, the molecular path ...
Nov 10, 2011 |
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Fetal tissue plays pivotal role in formation of insulin-producing cells
A somewhat mysterious soft tissue found in the fetus during early development in the womb plays a pivotal role in the formation of mature beta cells the sole source of the body's insulin. This discovery, made ...
Sep 06, 2011 |
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Insulin pump maker identified after hacking talk
(AP) -- When Jay Radcliffe revealed three weeks ago that he'd found serious security holes in a popular type of insulin pump that diabetics wear, he kept two important details secret: the pump maker's name, ...
Aug 25, 2011 |
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A stem cell target for expanding waistlines?
Researchers may have found the key to developing a method to rid the body of stem cells responsible for driving fat expansion. According to a report in the June 16 Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, they've landed ...
Jun 16, 2011 |
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Apple peel makes mice mighty
For Popeye, spinach was the key to extra muscle. For the mice in a new University of Iowa study, it was apples, or more precisely a waxy substance called ursolic acid that's found in apple peel.
Jun 07, 2011 |
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In-car device monitors blood sugar for diabetic drivers
People with diabetes and their caregivers know that careful and constant monitoring of their blood sugar levels is critical to managing the disease. But even while driving?
Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
May 19, 2011 |
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Dynamics of crucial protein 'switch' revealed
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine have published a study that offers a new understanding of a protein critical to physiological ...
May 17, 2011 |
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Mice with fewer insulin-signaling receptors don't live longer
Scientists studying longevity thought it might be good to lack a copy of a gene, called IGF1 receptor, that is important in insulin signaling. Previous studies showed invertebrates that lacked the copy lived longer, even ...
Nov 23, 2011 |
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New insights into insulin resistance could lead to better drugs for diabetics
Research published in the October Molecular and Cellular Biology moves us closer to developing drugs that could mitigate diabetes.
Oct 21, 2011 |
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Insulin
More reference expression data
Insulin is a hormone that has extensive effects on metabolism and other body functions, such as vascular compliance. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stopping use of fat as an energy source. When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by body cells, and the body begins to use fat as an energy source, for example, by transfer of lipids from adipose tissue to the liver for mobilization as an energy source. As its level is a central metabolic control mechanism, its status is also used as a control signal to other body systems (such as amino acid uptake by body cells). It has several other anabolic effects throughout the body. When control of insulin levels fails, diabetes mellitus results.
Insulin is used medically to treat some forms of diabetes mellitus. Patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus depend on external insulin (most commonly injected subcutaneously) for their survival because the hormone is no longer produced internally. Patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus are insulin resistant, and because of such resistance, may suffer from a relative insulin deficiency. Some patients with Type 2 diabetes may eventually require insulin when other medications fail to control blood glucose levels adequately.
Insulin is a peptide hormone composed of 51 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 5808 Da. It is produced in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. The name comes from the Latin insula for "island".
Insulin's structure varies slightly between species of animal. Insulin from animal sources differs somewhat in 'strength' (in carbohydrate metabolism control effects) in humans because of those variations. Porcine (pig) insulin is especially close to the human version.
For more information about Insulin, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
