Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Science Signaling

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Sci. STKE, 9 August 2005
Vol. 2005, Issue 296, p. tw291
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2962005tw291]

EDITORS' CHOICE

METABOLISM The Ultimate Glucose Monitor

The brain, particularly the hypothalamus, controls liver glucose production, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the brain senses glucose levels have been unclear. Lam et al. now show that, in rats, this process requires the conversion of glucose in the hypothalamus to lactate, which in turn stimulates pyruvate metabolism and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Alterations in ATP levels control neuronal excitability through effects on ATP-sensitive potassium channels, which have been implicated in glucose output by the liver. The elucidation of this metabolic regulatory loop may lead to new pharmacological interventions that could restore regulation of blood glucose in diabetes.

T. K. T. Lam, R. Gutierrez-Juarez, A. Pocai, L. Rossetti, Regulation of blood glucose by hypothalamic pyruvate metabolism. Science 309, 943-947 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: The Ultimate Glucose Monitor. Sci. STKE 2005, tw291 (2005).

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882)