Ocr A2 Biology - Diabetes

Front 1

What is diabetes?

Back 1

Diabetes mellitus is a condition where blood glucose concentration cannot be properly controlled.

Front 2

What occurs in type 1 diabetes?

Back 2

Insulin is not produced due to the body attacking the B cells in the islets of Langerhans.

Front 3

What type of disease is type 1 diabetes?

Back 3

An auto-immune disease.

Front 4

How can someone be checked for type 1 diabetes?

Back 4

If there is glucose present in their urine. This is due to the kidneys not being able to reabsorb all this glucose.

Front 5

Type 1 diabetes usually develops in ........ or young .......... . A person's risk of developing type 1 diabetes is slightly increased if there's a close family ........ of the disease.

Back 5

1. children

2. young adults

3. history

Front 6

State three ways of treating type 1 diabetes.

Back 6

• Insulin therapy
  Most type 1 diabetics require regular insulin injections throughout the day.
  Some people use an insulin pump - this machine continuously delivers insulin into the body via. a tube inserted beneath the skin.
• Some people have been successfully treated with islet cell transplantation - they receive healthy islets cells from a donor so their pancreas can develop some insulin (although they still need some insulin therapy).
• Type 1 diabetics need to have a healthy balanced diet to reduce the amount of insulin needed. They need to carefully plan their diet so they can manage the amount of glucose being taken in.
  Exercise also reduces the amount of insulin needed by using up blood glucose.
  
  

Front 7

Type 2 diabetes is linked to...

Back 7

...obesity

Front 8

Type 2 diabetes occurs...

Back 8

...when the B cells don't produce enough insulin or when the body's cells don't respond properly to insulin.

Front 9

Why don't cells respond properly to insulin in type 2 diabetes?

Back 9

The insulin receptors on their membranes don't work properly, so the cells don't take up enough glucose, resulting in a higher blood glucose concentration.

Front 10

Type 2 diabetes is usually acquired ........ in life.

Back 10

later

Front 11

State three ways type 2 diabetes could be treated.

Back 11

• It can be managed through lifestyle changes such as eating healthy and exercising, this can help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes as well as control the effects.
• Medication can be prescribed:
  Metformin acts on liver cells to reduce the amount of glucose they release in the blood. It also increases the sensitivity of cells to insulin so more glucose can be taken up with the same amount of glucose.
  Sulfonylureas - stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin.
  Thiazolidinediones - make the body more sensitive to insulin.
• In some people with type 2 diabetes, insulin therapy is used in addition or instead.

Front 12

Explain how scientists used to extract insulin and a more modern method of producing insulin.

Back 12

• Scientists used to extract insulin from animal pancreases (e.g. pigs and cattle) to treat people with type 1 diabetes.
• Nowadys, human insulin can be made by genetically modified bacteria.

Front 13

Why is it better to use GM bacteria to produce insulin than extracting it from animals? State four points.

Back 13

• Producing insulin from GM bacteria is cheaper than extracting it from animal pancreases.
• Larger quantities can be produced.
• GM bacteria make human insulin, which makes it less likely to be rejected by the immune system or trigger an allergic response.
• Some people prefer insulin from GM bacteria for ethical or religious reasons.

Front 14

How can stem cells be used to potentially cure diabetes?

Back 14

• Stem cells could be grown into B cells
• The B cells would be implanted into the pancreas of a person with type 1 diabetes.
• This means the person would be able to make insulin as normal
• The treatment is still being developed.