where does insulin activate

[mikwell]

.
Hey ive noticed some confusion about where insulin calms sugar levels in the body
Is it in the blood stream or in the intestine before the blood stream
i have an understanding but i don't think its common. I just want to see where most people think insulin works

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

I think it's in the blood stream, but what do I know?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

This is just one of the many questions I have but do not have an answer to so I am looking forward to the replies. All I know is that insulin lowers the level of sugar in the blood but whether this is because it mixes with it and makes it undetectable or whether having made the cells receptive to sugar, the sugar leaves the blood stream and so there is less of it is the difficulty I have in understanding it.

I seem to remember Dr Kendrick explaining it in terms of the latter in that if the cells are replete and there is some sugar left over it is then that it is stored in the fat cells.

This might/ might not help

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2013/08/09/the-most-unutterable-balls/

 

[debbiiee]

Almost all cells of the body need glucose except very few for their metabolism. Glucose gets inside the cell from blood stream, after absorption from the intestine. For glucose to get transported inside the cell, insulin is must. When insulin is not there, blood glucose remains very high but the cells starve without glucose due to lack of insulin. Hope this helps...

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[phoenix]

This diagram shows how insulin is required to get glucose into a cell in skeletal or muscle cells ( importantly cells in the brain don't require it and it works a bit differently in the liver)

But (edited for emphasis as just seen your other post )
I wonder if you are thinking about insulin release.
there are hormones in the intestine that send signals to the pancreas . where insulin is made, to release insulin into the bloodstream immediately after eating . Indeed up to 70% of the postprandial insulin response is caused by the actions of these hormones.
These hormones are called incretins Two of them , glucagon like peptide (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) have been found to initiate insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas. At the same time they signal the alpha cells in the pancreas to suppress glucagon which in turn stops the release of glucose from the liver.
(this glucose release happens all the time during 'fasting' so that there is enough glucose for the cells in every part of the body, your brain normally uses about 35mmol per hour for example )
These hormones also appear to slow down the speed of absorption of food, particularly carbohydrates in the intestine. They also appear to increase glucose sensitivity
These incretins actually have a very short life and are in the body inactivated (stopped) by the release of another peptide DPP 4.


There are recent diabetes medicines that stimulate/mimic the actions of these incretins or alternatively others that act on DPP4 preventing it from inactivating the incretins.
Injectable Glucagon-like peptide analogs and agonists
More about incretins with a useful diagram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incretin