Once you understand what insulin is, what does it do?

pharmacological action

Treatment of diabetes, wasting disease. Promotes the entry of glucose in the blood circulation into hepatocytes, myocytes, adipocytes and other tissue cells to synthesise glycogen to lower blood glucose, and promotes the synthesis of fats and proteins.

physiological role

The main physiological role of insulin is to regulate metabolic processes. For glucose metabolism: promote the uptake and use of glucose by tissue cells, promote glycogen synthesis, inhibit gluconeogenesis, so that blood glucose is lowered; for fat metabolism: promote fatty acid synthesis and fat storage, and reduce lipolysis; for protein: promote the entry of amino acids into the cell, and promote all aspects of protein synthesis in order to increase protein synthesis. The overall effect is to promote anabolism. Insulin is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose in the body, and the only hormone that simultaneously promotes glycogen, fat and protein synthesis. The mechanism of action belongs to the receptor tyrosine kinase mechanism.

Regulation of glucose metabolism

Insulin can promote the uptake and utilisation of glucose by tissues and cells throughout the body, and inhibit the decomposition of glycogen and glycogen isomerisation, therefore, insulin has the effect of lowering blood glucose. When insulin is over-secreted, the blood glucose drops rapidly, and the brain tissue is affected the most, which can cause convulsions, coma, and even insulin shock. On the contrary, insufficient secretion of insulin or lack of insulin receptor often leads to elevated blood glucose; if more than the renal glucose valve, sugar is discharged from the urine, resulting in glycosuria; at the same time, due to the change in the composition of the blood (which contains an excessive amount of glucose), it also leads to hypertension, coronary heart disease and retinal vascular disease and other pathologies. Insulin hypoglycaemia is the result of multiple effects:

(1) Facilitates the transport of glucose from the blood into cells by cell membrane carriers of target cells in muscle, adipose tissue, etc.

(2) Enhances phosphodiesterase activity, decreases cAMP levels, and elevates cGMP concentration through covalent modification, thereby increasing glycogen synthase activity and decreasing phosphorylase activity, accelerating glycogen synthesis and inhibiting glycogenolysis.

(3) Activates pyruvate dehydrogenase by activating pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase, accelerating the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl coenzyme A and the aerobic oxidation of sugars.

(4) Inhibits gluconeogenesis by inhibiting the synthesis of FEP carboxykinase and by reducing the raw materials for gluconeogenesis.

(5) Inhibits hormone-sensitive lipase in adipose tissue, slowing down fat mobilisation and increasing tissue utilisation of glucose.

Regulation of fat metabolism

Insulin can promote fat synthesis and storage, reduce free fatty acids in the blood, and inhibit the decomposition and oxidation of fat. Lack of insulin can cause fat metabolism disorders, reduced fat storage, decomposition enhancement, elevated blood lipids, which can cause atherosclerosis, leading to serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; at the same time, insulin deficiency will lead to body fat decomposition enhancement, the generation of a large number of ketone bodies, the emergence of ketoacidosis.

Regulation of protein metabolism

Insulin facilitates growth by promoting cellular uptake of amino acids and protein synthesis on the one hand, and inhibiting protein catabolism on the other. The pro-protein synthesis effect of adenopituitary growth hormone must be expressed in the presence of insulin. Therefore, insulin is also one of the indispensable hormones for growth.

Other Functions

Insulin promotes the passage of potassium and magnesium ions across the cell membrane into the cell; it promotes the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

The information is from the Internet and is for reference only.