How diabetes affects the body: outlining acute and chronic complications

Although a common condition, the mechanisms of diabetes are not always simple to understand, and requires concentration as well as an appreciation of multiple body systems. This guide will hopefully further your knowledge of the physiology and help you understand why diabetes and its complications present as a particular set of symptoms.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common condition stemming from the body halting the production of insulin from beta cells in the islets of Langerhans regions of the pancreas (type 1 diabetes), or the way the body reacts to the insulin the body produces, forming a resistance (type 2 diabetes).A lack of insulin means it is unable to inhibit the release of glucagon from the pancreas, which stimulates the liver to break down stored glycogen into glucose, thus raising the blood sugar level at the expense of storing fat.

Glucagon normally releases only when blood sugar levels are too low, using stored energy reserves to maintain a healthy blood glucose level (between 4 mmol/l and 5.9 mmol/l without eating, <7.8 mmol/l postprandial), which is important in the normal function of the brain that depends entirely on glucose in normal physiology. This glycogen that has already been stored will have been mediated by insulin in the first place, and its action on liver, musculoskeletal tissue and adipocytes (fat cells) is what encourages the uptake of blood glucose after meals to keep in reserve. With insulin and glucagon working symbiotically, we are able to regulate our blood glucose effectively. However, when the system is disrupted in DM, problems start to occur, with symptoms related to the pathophysiology behind DM clinically evident.