Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Blood Glucose Graph (Lab 3)

Dr. Rood's blood sugar reaction to the consumption of a candy bar

















The biological device that allows us to regulate or blood glucose (even after sending it through the roof by eating a candy bar) is the body's homeostatic mechanism. This mechanism keeps blood glucose levels within a narrow range and is composed of several interacting systems, of which hormone regulation is the most important. There are two types of metabolic hormones that affect blood glucose levels: catabolic (which increase blood glucose) and anabolic (which decrease blood glucose levels).

Negative Feedback Loop
A negative feedback loop occurs when the output of a system acts to oppose changes to the input of the system, with the result that the changes are attenuated. When the overall feedback of the system is negative then the system will tend to be stable. Here is a graph describing what happens when the body regulates its blood glucose and how that mechanism is a negative feedback loop.

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