Question

What pancreatic hormone increases blood glucose levels?

Answer 1

The pancreas is an elongated, yellowish gland lying inferior to the stomach in a bend of the duodenum. It acts as both exocrine and endocrine glands and is called a heterocrine gland. The exocrine part consists of rounded lobes that secrete pancreatic juice while the endocrine part of the pancreas consists of about 1 to 2 million patches of cells, called islets of Langerhans.

Complete answer:
Islets of Langerhans are located around blood capillaries within the lobules. In a normal human, islets of Langerhans represent only 1 to 2 percent of pancreatic tissues. These consist of four types of hormone-secreting cells – alpha cells secrete glucagon, beta cells secrete insulin, delta cells secrete somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide cells secrete pancreatic polypeptide.

Now according to the question we discuss the glucagon in detail. Glucagon stimulates the breakdown of glycogen into glucose (glycogenolysis) in the liver. It also forms glucose from amino acids and fats (gluconeogenesis) in the liver. Both processes increase the level of glucose in the blood and are called hyperglycemic hormones. The secretion of glucagon is controlled by feedback in accordance with the level of glucose in the blood. Excess of glucose in the blood suppresses the secretion of glucagon, whereas a fall in glucose stimulates its production. Its action is opposite to insulin and is called as ‘’anti-insulin’’ hormone.

Note: The hormones are informational molecules secreted by the endocrine glands in response to changes in the external or internal environment and carried by the blood to another part where they stimulate specific physiological processes for the good of the body as a whole.