Insulin and its Role in the entry of Glucose

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betterfuture

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I am bit confused.

Say someone has just eaten a meal rich in glucose. Glucose travels to the tissues that need it in order to make ATP. So here is why I am confused or maybe I am not able to connect the dots.

Tissues need ATP to do work so why is it that insulin has to be released in order for that to occur? Like, insulin is released in response to high blood glucose concentrations so it promotes cells to uptake glucose but I would think that glucose should be uptaken by cells regardless. That's the whole idea of eating. Only when blood glucose levels are still high should insulin be released. I feel like I am missing out on something.

What I am saying is, how does the process exactly go? Thank you!

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Insulin and glucagon reciprocally regulate blood glucose levels. Without regulation, maybe some cells would just take in glucose all the time and deprive other cells of it. Or maybe some less vital cells would waste glucose when important tissues and organs need it more.
 
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I guess what I am saying is that insulin just assists in the uptake of glucose into cells when it's too high. So even after cells have uptaken glucose to use as an energy source, insulin will promote more glucose to go in for other uses besides burning the glucose?
 
The liver is the organ that regulates glucose stores (glycogen). If glucose is in a huge excess, glycogen synthesis (glycogenesis) will be favored as well as glucose uptake by any cells that need them.

Also think about the extreme case where someone has crazy high blood sugar for a long time. Insulin is constantly secreted to get cells to take in glucose, but cells eventually get desensitized and the pancreas can get burned out from making insulin constantly. (Type II diabetes)
 
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