Question

Glycogen is stored in
A) Liver and muscles
B) Liver only
C) Muscles only
D) Pancreas

Answer 1

Hint:- Glycogen is a multibranched polysaccharide form of glucose. It serves as a form of energy storage in animals and certain fungi, and bacteria as well. It represents the main storage form of glucose in the human body. Glycogen functions as a form of energy reserves for short-term usage while triglyceride stores in adipose tissue are used for long-term storage.

Complete Answer:- In humans, glycogen is made and stored in the liver and skeletal muscle cells. The amount of glycogen stored in the body within the muscles and liver depends on various factors like physical training, basal metabolic rate (BMR), and eating habits. Other tissues and cells (kidneys, red blood cells, white blood cells, and glial cells) also store small amounts of glycogen. The uterus stores glycogen during pregnancy for the nourishment of the embryo.
In fasting individuals, blood glucose is maintained constant at its level at the expense of glycogen stores present in the body. The breakdown of muscle glycogen impedes muscle glucose uptake from the blood which leads to increasing the amount of blood glucose available for use in other tissues. Therefore it is an important storage polysaccharide in animals. Glycogen is a homopolysaccharide made up of glucose units only.

Hence, the correct option is (A) Liver and muscles.

Note:- Glycogen is the analogue of starch in animals. It has a structure similar to amylopectin (starch component), but is more extensively compact and branched than starch. Glycogen provides an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose. It acts as a storage reserve in many parasitic protozoa as well.