Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Glucagon |
GlucagonNoun1. A hormone secreted by the pancreas; stimulates increases in blood sugar levels in the blood (thus opposing the action of insulin). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Glucagon is a a 29 amino acid polypeptide acting as an important hormone in carbohydrate metabolism. The polypeptide has a molecular weight of 3485 daltons and was discovered in 1923 by Kimball and Murlin. They studied panreatic extracts and found a additional substance with hyperglycemic properties. Glucagon was sequenced in late 1950s. Fuller understanding of its role in physiology and disease was established in 1970s when a specific radioimmunoassay was developed.NH2-His-Ser-Gln-Gly-Thr-Phe-Thr-Ser-Asp-Tyr-Ser-Lys-Tyr-Leu-Asp-Ser-Arg-Arg-Ala-Gln-Asp-Phe-Val-Gln-Trp-Leu-Met-Asn-Thr-COOH
Physiology
The hormone is synthesized and secreted from alpha cells of pancreatic islets (Islets of Langerhans).
Glucagon maintains the level of glucose in the blood by binding to specific receptors on hepatocytes causing the liver to release its intracellular stores of glucose. As these stores (in the form of glycogen) become depleted, glucagon then encourages the liver to synthesize glucose by gluconeogenesis. This glucose is released into the bloodstream. Both theses mechanisms leading to glucose release by liver prevent the development of hypoglycaemia.
Pathology
- glucagonoma
Pharmacological application of glucagon
An injectable form of glucagon is essential first aid in cases of severe hypoglycemia. The glucagon is injected and quickly raises blood glucose levels. It works only if there is glycogen stored in liver cells, and it won't work again until those stores are replenished.
Glucagon has also inotropic properties. Although its use is impracticable in heart failure, it has some value in treatmeant of myocardium depression secondary to betablocker overdose.
See also
- insulin
- diabetes mellitus
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Glucagon."
Crosswords: Glucagon |
| Specialty definitions using "glucagon": Alpha Cell ♦ Cyclic AMP ♦ D Cells, Diabetic Ketoacidosis ♦ Enteroglucagon ♦ Receptors, Pancreatic Hormone. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Glucagon" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Portuguese (glucagon). |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Beta cells produce insulin and alpha cells produce glucagon. (references) | |
When blood sugar drops too low, the alpha cells secrete glucagon. (references) | ||
Delta cells secrete the hormone somatostatin, which inhibits insulin and glucagon secretion. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Glucagon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Glucagon" is used about 43 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 43 | 52,181 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "glucagon": monoiodo-glucagon. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
glucagon | 79 |
glucagon emergency kit | 3 |
glucagon insulina y | 3 |
glucagon insulin | 3 |
glucagon kit | 3 |
barium enema glucagon | 2 |
glucagon like peptide | 2 |
e glucagon insulina relação | 2 |
da e glucagon influencia insulina metabolismo o sobre | 2 |
coracao glucagon | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "glucagon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 胰高血糖素. (various references) | |
Danish | glukagon, glucagon. (various references) | |
Dutch | glucagon. (various references) | |
Finnish | glukagoni. (various references) | |
French | glucagon. (various references) | |
German | Glukagon, Glucagon. (various references) | |
Greek | ηπατο-λειτουργική εξέτασις με γλυκαγόνη (glucagon liver function test), ενέργεια της γλυκαγόνης (glucagon effect). (various references) | |
Italian | glucagone. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ucagonglay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | glucagone, glucagon. (various references) | |
Spanish | glucagón. (various references) | |
Swedish | glukagon. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "glucagon": glucagons. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-g-g-l-n-o-u" | |
-2 letters: glucan, lanugo, unclog. | |
-3 letters: along, clang, clung, conga, gluon, guaco, guano, gulag, logan. | |
-4 letters: agog, agon, calo, caul, clag, clan, clog, clon, coal, cola, gang, gaol, gaun, glug, goal, gong, guan, lang, loan, loca, long, luna, lung, nogg, ulan, ulna, unco. | |
-5 letters: ago, can, cog, col, con, gag, gal, gan, gnu, goa, gul, gun. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-g-g-l-n-o-u" | |
+1 letter: glucagons. | |
+3 letters: cataloguing, clangouring, coagulating. | |
+4 letters: camouflaging. | |
+5 letters: encouragingly, laughingstock. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
