Question

The gland which regulates blood sugar level is/are
A) Pancreas
B) Thyroid
C) Anterior pituitary
D) Posterior pituitary
E) Hypothalamus

Answer 1

This gland looks like a horizontally placed leaf and it secretes Insulin hormone. The gland is located in the abdominal area.

Complete Answer:
- The pancreas is an elongated and flattened gland that lies behind the stomach in the upper left abdomen. It performs two types of functions – exocrine function that helps in digestion and the endocrine function that helps in regulation of blood glucose (sugar) level. A larger proportion of the pancreas is composed of exocrine tissue that produces pancreatic enzymes for digestion. The rest of the tissue consists of endocrine cells. The endocrine cells of the pancreas form groups just like bunches of grapes and are called as pancreatic islets or the islets of Langerhans.
- In each pancreatic islet there are two types of cells – the alpha cells, which produce the hormone glucagon, and the beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin. Both of these hormones regulate blood glucose levels.
- The high glucose concentrations in the blood (hyperglycemia) induce the secretion of insulin. Insulin decreases the blood glucose levels immediately by increasing the uptake of glucose in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle cells and liver cells from the blood. When the blood glucose level becomes normal, the levels of insulin in the blood also get reduced.
- The secretion of glucagon is stimulated by the low concentration of glucose in the blood or hypoglycaemia. Glucagon mostly affects glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis that cause release of glucose from the cells into the blood, and this raises the blood glucose level.
Thyroid gland, anterior pituitary, posterior pituitary and hypothalamus glands have important roles in different processes related to growth and development but they do not play a direct role in regulation of blood glucose level.

Thus, the correct answer is A, i.e., Pancreas.

Note: Insulin and glucagon, the two important hormones secreted by Pancreas are antagonistic hormones because they have opposite actions on the body.