A technical description of insulin created for Technical Writing

1. What is the insulin signaling mechanism?
Insulin, made in the body, is a chemical created and released by the pancreas to control the amount of sugars in the
blood. It acts as a messenger, or signal, that lets the cells and the liver know to take in glucose.
1. A person eats any food
with carbohydrates in it.
Carbohydrates are
sugars, starches, or fiber
found in a variety of
foods and drinks. In this
diagram, I will use sugar
to indicate any
carbohydrate.
2. As the food is moving
to the stomach and
digested, broken up for
nutrients, the sugar is
absorbed into the blood
stream in the small
intestine.
3. Cells in the pancreas,
beta cells, produce a
hormone, insulin.
Hormones are chemical
messengers that are
released by glands to
direct some process in
the body. These
molecules are sent into
the blood stream to act
as chemical messengers
to cells.
5
4. The muscle cells have
insulin receptors (light
blue/green in figure 1) on
the outside of their cell
membrane that receive
the insulin molecules.
This activates the
receptors.
*Note: Muscle cells are
not the only cells that
have insulin receptors to
take in insulin. *
5. The activated
receptors allow the cells
to let sugar filter into the
cells. The sugar
molecules are filtering in
through a separate
channel located on the
cell membrane (Figure 2).
This channel, purple in
Figure 2, is called a carrier
protein. It’s structure
changes after it takes
brings glucose into the
cell.
Figure 1: The mechanism in which insulin is released into the body and
moved into cells for energy. https://www.haikudeck.com/diabetes-and-
insulin-education-presentation-pCcCEMYZGm
Figure 2: A closer look to the insulin receptors and glucose channels on the
cell membrane. http://www.scottsdaleweightloss.com/health-effects-of-
obesity/obesity-and-type-2-diabetes
Why is this important?
The must be an adequate amount, 70-140 mg/dl, of glucose in the blood always for proper function. If the
beta cells, in the pancreas, produces and releases too much insulin into the body, the amount of glucose in
the blood will be too low, as it will all be in the cells. This is referred to as hypoglycemia. Hyperglycemia
occurs when the beta cells produce too little, or no, insulin. The glucose concentration in the blood is then
too high and the cells cannot get energy.