How does the body respond following a meal to ensure a relatively constant blood sugar level?

After a meal blood sugar levels will rise. In the Islets of Langerhans beta cells detect hyperglycaemia and secrete insulin, while alpha cells stop releasing glucagon.
The insulin moves in the blood stream to the liver where it binds to receptors on a hepatocyte. The binding of the insulin to a receptor causes a Glut-4 vesicle to move to and fuse with the cell surface membrane by exocytosis. This increases the permeability of glucose into the cell. Glucose is then removed inside the cell by either glycolysis to produce ATP or conversion to Glycogen in glycogenisis.

CJ

Related Biology A Level answers

All answers ▸

Why does fetal haemoglobin have a higher affinity for oxygen than an adult haemoglobin?


What is the function of mitochondria?


What precisely is autoregulation in the kidney? Is it solely the ability to vary the diameters of the afferent and efferent arterioles? If so how is this controlled?


Describe and explain how the lac Operon allows E coli bacteria to adapt to a new environment.