Glucose is the sugar that is required for optimal cognitive functioning.The uptake of glucose in the brain is mediated by the peptide hormone insulin. This regulation of glucose arises from insulin’s ability to induce the movement of insulin-responsive glucose transporters (GLuT4) to the surface of cells. Past scientific findings have shown insulins interaction with the hypothalamus to regulate feeding behaviors. This Insulin-brain interaction was thought to only pertain to the hypothalamus, but recent studies have suggested otherwise. The hippocampus has been shown to contain significant levels of insulin receptors as well as GLuT4. These findings suggest that insulin may have an influence on hippocampal neurons as well. The problem is, that …show more content…
The administration of insulin into the left hippocampus had in fact significantly improved maze performance at doses of 100 µU and 1 mU. The next result was the finding that the PI3K pathway, like in the hypothalamus, is used by insulin to influence memory in the hippocampus. They further prove that the PI3K pathway is important for memory modulation, by inhibiting the pathway and observing that memory became impaired and the effects of insulin reversed. To test that this role of memory regulation also existed in endogenous insulin, they blocked intrahippocampal insulin signaling and observed impaired maze performance. Some of the rats introduced to the high fat diet became diabetic and this systemic insulin resistance arose an interesting interaction. To test whether insulin resistance affected the previous findings, they compared the diabetic high fat rats to the control high fat rats whom didn't develop diabetes. The diabetic rats showed significant baseline memory impairment as well as a significant decrease in their post-dose …show more content…
The discovery that Insulin modulates memory by using PI3K cascades and that endogenous insulin acts as a modulator for spatial memory serve as basic implications. These findings allow for future scientific research to occur by using this study as a foundation for future studies. The results showed that there is a significant effect that insulin has on hippocampal processes. The applied implications is found through the analysis of the memory performance in high-fat diet diabetic rats compared to the control and high-fat diet non-diabetic rats. They found that a high-fat diet alone does not impair memory performance but that systemic insulin resistance does. This finding suggests an interesting connection between insulin levels and other diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. This helps researchers find other solutions for treating these disease and offer suggestions of how to avoid developing them in the first place. The significant main result is that insulin is as important as glucose in modulating memory processes and thus increasing insulin can enhance cognitive performance while overexposure to insulin for long durations can be
Hippocampus is a small, curved region, which exists in both hemispheres of the brain and plays a vital role in emotions, learning and acquisition of new information. It also contributes majorly to long term memory, which is permanent information stored in the brain. Although long term memory is the last information that can be forgotten, its impairment has become very common nowadays. The dysfunction is exemplified by many neurological disorders such as amnesia. There are two types of amnesia, anterograde and retrograde. Anterograde amnesia is inability in forming new information, while retrograde refers to the loss of the past memory. As suggested by Cipolotti and Bird (2006), hippocampus’s lesions are responsible for both types of amnesia. According to multiple trace theory, the author suggests that hippocampal region plays a major role in effective retrieving of episodic memory (Cipolotti and Bird, 2006). For example, patients with hippocampal damage show extensively ungraded retrograde amnesia (Cipolotti and Bird, 2006). They have a difficult time in retrieving information from their non-personal episodic events and autobiographical memory. However, this theory conflicts with standard model of consolidation. The difference between these theories suggests that researchers need to do more work to solve this controversy. Besides retrieving information, hippocampus is also important in obtaining new semantic information, as well as familiarity and recollection (Cipolotti and Bird, 2006). For instance, hippocampal amnesic patient V.C shows in ability to acquire new semantic knowledge such as vocabularies and factual concepts (Cipolotti and Bird, 2006). He is also unable to recognize and recall even...
By the 1920s, diabetes was considered a global epidemic, affecting people across the globe. Scientists unanimously agreed that diabetes was “the failure of the pancreas to secrete enough of a certain mysterious substance necessary for the proper utilization of carbohydrates as a body fuel.”2 This had stumped scientists for years, and no sufficient cure or treatment had been found. However, in 1921, Toronto doctor Frederick Banting, assisted by J. Macleod, Charles Best, and Dr. J.B Collip successfully created insulin, which was subsequently tested on dogs with diabetes before experimenting on the first human, Leonard Thompson in
Insulin is a hormone used to control blood glucose. This hormone can act on cells to: stimulate glucose, protein, and lipid metabolism. Understanding insulin is important for knowing its effect if there is an inadequate amount in the body. Before scientists understood insulin, people who’s bodies stopped producing the hormone
Diabetes is a disease in which a person’s body in unable to make or utilize insulin properly which affects blood sugar levels. Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas, which helps to regulate glucose (sugar) levels, break down carbohydrates and fats, and is essential to produce the body’s energy. The CDC (2013) offers reliable insight, summarized here, into the different types of diabetes, some causes, and health complications that may arise from the disease.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a condition in the body that is related to a faulty metabolism. It means that the body’s metabolism is not functioning properly, which leads to adverse effects in the health. The food we ingest, gets broken down into blood sugar (glucose), which is what fuels our body in the form of energy. This converted glucose needs to enter our cells so that it can be used for energy and growth. And in order for the glucose to enter our cells, there needs to be insulin present, which the beta cells of the pancreas is responsible for producing. This hormone is responsible for maintaining glucose level in the blood. It allows the body cells to use glucose as a main energy source.
It is obvious that the cells that make up a person need energy to survive and function. Insulin is crucial in the delivery of energy to cells. In the body, glucose is the standard form of energy after digestion. Unfortunately, glucose's size and structure make it hard for the molecule to pass through the outer membranes of many of the body's cells. Insulin helps to fix this problem. Specifically, insulin bonds with the outer membrane of cells to increase permeability. This enables glucose to pass through the cell membrane more easily and gives the cell access to more energy. Without insulin, it is extremely difficult for glucose in the blood to be used by the body's cells as energy. Conversely, an abundance of insulin increases the rate at which glucose is used by the cells and therefore lowers the amount of glucose left in the bloodstream (Guyton, Hall, 972).
The first evidence of diabetes was found on an early Egyptian manuscript from 1500 BCE, however; it is only in the last 200 years that we understand what is happening at the cellular level in a diabetic individual (Polansky, 2012). We now know that diabetes is a complex disorder of genetic, chemical, and lifestyle factors that contribute to the body’s inability to utilize glucose for energy and cellular functions (ADA, 2013).
Insulin is a main component in the regulation of the body’s metabolism. Insulin is regulated by digestion processes. At the beginning of digestion, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and other sugar molecules. Glucose is then directly absorbed into the bloodstream which causes blood glucose levels to peak. At the same time, the pancreas releases insulin to allow the glucose to be absorbed into cells either to be used as energy or stored. Once levels are balanced, the pancreas reduces production of insulin. In a patient with Type II diabetes, insulin may be produced and able to attach to receptor cells but glucose is unable to move into the cell to be used. As the disease progresses, the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient insulin to overcome the resistance. This causes the beta cells to become damaged which results in permanent hyperglycemia (Diabetes- Type 2).
Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic medical condition that affects millions of people. This chronic condition is associated with high levels of glucose in the blood. As a newly diagnosed patient it is crucial to be aware how our bodies react to food consumption in regards to how insulin is produced to fully understand the concept of insulin production by the pancreas.
In the 1920s, Dr. Frederick Banting discovered that insulin was able to help reduce the sugar level in the blood. There are many health issues around the world, Diabetes is one of them. “Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body’s inability to produce any or enough insulin causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood” (Google). There are two principal kinds of diabetes there is type 1 and type 2. “Type 1 is called juvenile diabetes which is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin”("Type 1 Diabetes - Google Search."). “Type 2 Diabetes is much more common that Diabetes type 1.However, type two is called onset adult diabetes which is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar”("Type
He suggests that Insulin is the hormone that outdoes them all; the higher the level of insulin, the greater the tendency for a person to store fat. The types of food we eat triggers an insulin increase. He points out that Carbohydrates such as fructose, sugar, soda, cereal, bread, potato, alcohol and pasta all trigger greater insulin levels. Since the body’s insulin levels are mainly determined by consumed carbohydrates, for some the high-carb foods stimulate insulin secretion and cravings for more high-carb foods, which makes them gain
The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus in is related to the insulin hormone. Insulin is secreted by cells in the pancreas and is responsible for regulating the level of glucose in the bloodstream. It also aids the body in breaking down the glucose to be used as energy. When someone suffers from diabetes, however, the body does not break down the glucose in the blood as a result of abnormal insulin metabolism. When there are elevated levels of glucose in the blood, it is known as hyperglycemia. If the levels continue to remain high over an extended period of time, damage can be done to the kidneys, cardiovascular systems; you can get eye disorders, or even cause nerve damage. When the glucose levels are low in one’s body, it is called hypoglycemia. A person begins to feel very jittery, and possibly dizzy. If that occurs over a period of time, the person can possibly faint. Diabetes mellitus occurs in three different forms - type 1, type 2, and gestational.
Immediately after a high carbohydrate meal, Insulin secrets rapidly due to glucose absorption into blood. This insulin act on many tissues in body and insulin turn causes rapid uptake, storage and use of glucose almost all issues of the body, but especially by the muscles, adipose tissue and liver. (8)
Diabetes has become a growing epidemic with an estimated 23.6 million people diagnosed with diabetes, and 57 million people diagnosed as pre-diabetic in the United States alone (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, Bucher, & Camera, 2011). Diabetes is a chronic, multisystem disease in which the body is unable to produce insulin, or the body becomes resistant to the insulin produced. The alteration in insulin regulation in the body results in elevated blood glucose (sugar) levels called hyperglycemia (Lewis et al.). Diabetes is a manageable disorder with the proper blood glucose level control, but when hyperglycemia is not properly managed, diabetes becomes a major cause of morbidity and mortality (Deshpande, Harris-Hayes, & Schootman, 2008). The effects of chronic hyperglycemia in diabetics’ results in numerous chronic complications, but the most disabling include diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, cardiovascular disease, and diabetic peripheral neuropathy.