Topic
Beta-cell biology
The biology of insulin secretion and the beta cell at the center of type 2 diabetes.
This page collects every article by Dr. Damon Tojjar in this topic. For all topics see browse by topic, and for the source-anchored record see damontojjar.com/record.
Articles in this topic (19)
- Insulin secretion and the beta cell: the engine of type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is often described as a disease of insulin resistance, but the beta cell, the pancreatic cell that makes insulin, sits at the center of the story....
- Amylin: The Other Hormone the Beta Cell Releases With Insulin
Every time your beta cells release insulin after a meal, they release a second hormone in the same package: amylin. Insulin gets the attention because it moves...
- Beta-Cell Mass vs Beta-Cell Function: Two Different Ways the Engine Fails
A pancreas can run short of insulin for two reasons: it can have too few beta cells, or it can have enough beta cells that each one secretes poorly. The first is a...
- Circadian Rhythm and Metabolism: Why Your Body Handles Food Differently by Time of Day
How does the body clock affect metabolism?The same meal does not meet the same body at eight in the morning and ten at night, and that gap is the heart of how...
- Glucose Toxicity Explained: How High Blood Sugar Harms the Cells That Lower It
Glucose toxicity is the idea that high blood sugar is both a result of a struggling pancreas and a cause of further struggle. When glucose stays elevated for long...
- How the Body Keeps Blood Sugar Stable, Hour by Hour
Your body keeps blood sugar inside a surprisingly narrow range, day and night, whether you eat a large meal or skip one entirely. It does this with a feedback loop:...
- The Incretin System: How Gut Hormones Tell Your Body a Meal Has Arrived
What does the incretin system actually do?The incretin system is the set of gut hormones, chiefly GLP-1 and GIP, that your intestine releases within minutes of...
- Inflammation and Diabetes: How Quiet Immune Activity in Fat Tissue Fuels Insulin Resistance
Type 2 diabetes is partly an inflammation story, and fat tissue is where much of that story is written. The kind of inflammation involved is not the redness and...
- Insulin Resistance vs Beta-Cell Failure: Two Roads to the Same Blood Sugar
A high blood sugar number tells you that glucose control has failed, but not how. There are two main roads to the same reading. On one, your muscle, liver, and fat...
- Insulin Secretion and the Beta Cell: How One Cell Reads Your Blood Sugar
Every time you eat, a small population of cells in your pancreas does something remarkable: it measures the sugar in your blood and releases exactly enough insulin...
- Insulin Signaling Explained: What Happens After Insulin Reaches a Cell
Insulin does not push glucose into your cells the way water pushes through a pipe. It arrives at a muscle or fat cell, docks onto a receptor on the surface, and...
- The Alpha Cell and Glucagon: Insulin's Counterweight in the Islet
Blood sugar is set by two hormones pulling against each other, not by one. Most explanations of diabetes feature insulin alone, the hormone that lowers blood sugar...
- The Dawn Phenomenon: Why Blood Sugar Rises Before Breakfast
Why does my blood sugar go up in the morning before I eat anything?If your glucose reading is higher when you wake than it was at bedtime, and you have not eaten a...
- The Gut Microbiome and Diabetes: What the Science Actually Shows
The short answer is that the community of microbes living in your gut does appear to be linked to metabolic health, including how the body handles blood sugar, but...
- The Incretin Effect: Why Eaten Sugar Raises Insulin More Than Infused Sugar
What is the incretin effect?The incretin effect is a striking observation: a given amount of glucose swallowed triggers a much larger insulin response than the same...
- Your Liver Runs Your Blood Sugar Between Meals: A Plain Guide
If your blood sugar is highest first thing in the morning, before you have eaten anything, the usual suspect is not your dinner. It is your liver. Between meals and...
- The Pancreatic Islet Explained: How a Tiny Cluster of Cells Runs Your Blood Sugar
The islet of Langerhans is a tiny cluster of hormone-producing cells inside the pancreas that acts as the body's blood-sugar control room. Beta cells release...
- What Insulin Resistance Really Means, in Plain Terms
Insulin resistance means your cells have stopped responding well to insulin, so your body has to make more of it to keep blood sugar in range. For a while that...
- Why Fat Tissue Is an Organ, Not Just Storage
Fat tissue is not a passive warehouse for extra calories. It is an active organ that releases hormones and signals, talks to the brain, the liver, and the immune...