In article <47g8vh$s2e at whitbeck.ncl.ac.uk>, erasmus harland
<p.s.e.harland at ncl.ac.uk> wrote:
> There is a theory that insulin regulates metabolism. In times of energy
> excess, insulin resistance occurs and there is more proinsulin produced,
> this has an effect on sugar metabolism - blood sugar is raised because
> it is not entering cells, some people get non-insulin dependant
> diabetes. The effect of exercise is to increase insulin efficiency in
> the muscles, sugar leves fall, and health increases!! In energy deficit
> insulin resistance induces a ":thrifty" pheontype, and protects you from
> death from starvation,
Question: Is anybody out there working on the effect of the breakdown of
the mitochondrial genome on metabolism (whole body or cellular)? I mean
if you beleive the people who are suggesting that ageing is to a large
extent a function of a gradual breakdown in the efficiency of ox phos,
then heart disease and mature-onset diabetes and allthe other related
diseases associated with ageing would be explained through compensating
effects required to maintain ATP turnover. It makes a sort of intuitive
sense that insulin resistance could be related to a requirement to take
up much larger amounts of glucose to maintain ATP turnover by switching
to glycolysis, except that that seems to be the wrong way round, but never
mind that :-)
_____
Cameron Neylon
Research School of Chemistry (+61 6) 249 4181
Australian National University cam at rschp1.anu.edu.auhttp://molbiol2.anu.edu.au/DixonGroup/Cameron/Cam.html
