Insulin is central to the treatment of diabetes. The discovery of insulin occurred in 1921 (100 years ago) following the ideas of a Canadian orthopedic surgeon named Frederick G. Banting, the chemistry skills of his assistant Charles Best, and John MacLeod of the University of Toronto in Canada. As an hormone, insulin requires the presence of an specific receptor to exert their action. The insulin receptor (IR) is a transmembrane receptor that is activated by insulin, and belongs to the large class of receptor tyrosine kinase. Metabolically, the insulin receptor plays a key role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, a functional process that under degenerate conditions may result in a range of clinical manifestations including diabetes and cancer. Insulin signalling controls access to blood glucose in body cells. When insulin falls, especially in those with high insulin sensitivity, body cells begin only to have access to lipids that do not require transport across the membrane. So, in this way, insulin is the key regulator of fat metabolism as well. Here you can see a very personal representation of the bovine insulin receptor structure in complex with insulin, and determined by CryoEM (PDB code: 5KQV)
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #insulin ... #receptor ... #tyrosinekinase ... #cryoem ... #100years ... #diabetes
Protein rendered with @proteinimaging and composed by @corelphotopaint
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #insulin ... #receptor ... #tyrosinekinase ... #cryoem ... #100years ... #diabetes
Protein rendered with @proteinimaging and composed by @corelphotopaint
