Diabetes: Anatomy, Physiology, Causes, Symptoms and Management

Running head:DIABETES
DIABETES
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1DIABETES
Diabetes
Diabetes can be referred to as a metabolic disorder that occurs when a person has high
blood glucose level either due to the insufficient production of the insulin or if the cell are not
being able to use up the insulin properly. This paper would describe about how the normal
physiology is affected by this condition, the etiology, the causes and the symptoms of the
diseases followed by a care plan for the management of the disease.
Normal anatomy and physiology of the major systems
The blood sugar level in the body is sustained in a very fine range and the two hormones;
the insulin and the glucagon help in maintaining this narrow range. Both the hormones gets
secreted from the pancreas and hence are called the pancreatic endocrine hormones(Chen, et al.,
2012). It is the secretion of the glucagon and the insulin from the pancreas that helps in
determining whether a patient has diabetes or hypoglycemia.
The insulin is produce beta cells of the pancreas and its amount of secretion increases
with the increase in the blood glucose level. Similarly when the blood sugar level falls, the
amount of the secreted insulin drops down. Glucose controls the blood sugar level by attaching
and signaling the cells to for absorbing glucose from the blood stream. Insulin allows the storing
of th4e excessive glucose in the liver (Chen, et al., 2012). The alpha cells of the pancreatic islet
of Langerhans, on the other hand secretes the Glucagon. In this case glucagon is not secreted
when the glucose level is the blood high. It is secreted when the blood glucose level is low such
as during the exercise or between the meals(Chen, et al., 2012). Glucagon plays the role of

2DIABETES
making the liver to secrete the glucose for increasing the glucose level. This is how the blood
sugar is controlled in the body.
Causes (etiology) and risk factors of the condition
Diabetes is caused due to the several factors depending upon the lifestyle, the genetic
setup, the ethnicity, family history and of course environmental conditions. The cause of the
diabetes varies with the type and the individual.
Type 1 diabetes– T1D is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system of the body attacks
the insulin producing pancreatic cells of the body. According to some scientific studies this type
of diabetes is caused by genes and the environmental factors like the viruses, which might trigger
this clinical condition. Hence the body is incapable of producing insulin(Johnson, et al., 2013).
Type 2 diabetes- T2D is caused by lifestyle and genetic factors. In this condition the body
becomes the resistant to the general effects of insulin or when the body generally loses the
capacity to produce enough insulin the pancreas(Johnson, et al., 2013). T2D begins with the
insulin resistance in the body, which is a condition in which the liver, muscles and the fat cells
are incapable of using the insulin. Hence the body requires insulin in excess than what is being
produced in the body to cope up with the added demand(East, et al., 2012). Extra belly fat and
higher body mass is related to T2D. The variants of the HLA-DQA1, HLA-DQB1, and HLA-
DRB1 genes enhance the risk of development of type 1 diabetes (Dean et al., 2014). The
mentioned genes provide directives for creating proteins that possess a grave role in the immune
system.