diabetes

• what is diabetes mellitus?

  disease where the body can't control blood glucose levels
• what is hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia?

  hyper- blood sugar too high

  hypo- blood sugar too low
• what is type 1 diabetes? describe the effects and what causes it

  • beta cells in the islets of Langerhans don't produce insulin
  • starts in childhood
  • insulin dependent
  • symptoms develop quick
  • cause isn't specifically known so disease can't be prevented or cured, but evidence suggests that it's a result of autoimmune response in which the body destroys its beta cells
  • blood can't store excess glucose and glycogen
• describe type two diabetes, its effects and causes

  • cause- obesity because of overeating of carbs, inactivity, excess body weight
  • insulin independent
  • either because person's beta cells don't produce enough insulin OR because the body's cells don't respond to insulin properly
  • glycoprotein insulin receptors don't work properly on liver's surface so they lose ability to respond to insulin
  • levels of insulin secreted by beta cells decrease
  • risk of developing type 1 increases with age
• what are two tests to diagnose type 2 diabetes?

  • glucose tolerance test- drinking glucose to find out how quick its removed from blood
  • fasting blood glucose test- measures normal level of blood sugar in the blood
• how do you treat type one diabetes?

  • no cure
  • patients monitor blood glucose concentrations, take insulin injections because type 1 diabetes is insulin dependent
  • most common form of insulin- GM insulin from bacteria
• how do you treat type two diabetes?

  • well controlled weight loss/diet- controlling carbohydrate intake
  • matching diet to levels of exercise
  • drugs which slows down the rate at which glucose is absorbed from the intestine
• state an effect of uncontrolled diabetes

  hyperglycaemia (blood glucose is too high)
• true or false? the symptoms of diabetes develop slow

  FALSE- they develop quick
• true or false? diabetes cannot be controlled?

  FALSE- blood glucose concentration can be controlled using external methods
• how can someone with diabetes analyse their blood glucose concentration?

  • take a drop of blood (usually by pricking the finger)
  • run it through a machine which tells you the concentration of your blood glucose
• true or false? type 2 diabetes is more common than type 1 diabetes

  TRUE
• what happens if blood glucose concentration is not monitored correctly while taking insulin injections?

  can take too much insulin injections which results in hypoglycaemia (too low blood glucose concentration) or hyperglycaemia (too high blood glucose concentration)
• what are the negatives of transplanting a pancreas to cure diabetes?

  need to take immunosuppressants constantly so the body accepts the pancreas, leaving the body susceptible to infection
• how can stem cells be used to treat diabetes? what are the advantages of this?

  • embryonic stem cells are totipotent- can differentiate into any cell type and form whole organisms
  • produce unlimited source of beta cells
  • not likely to be rejected by body like donor organs
  • people would no longer have to inject themselves with insulin
• what are the disadvantages of using stem cells to treat diabetes?

  • can induce the formation of tumours resulting from unlimited cell growth
  • ethical issues from the destruction of embryos