Regulation of glucose uptake in peripheral tissues

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Maintaining blood sugar levels within normal limits is essential to an animal's well-being because the brain needs a constant supply of sugar. The main blood sugar, glucose, stimulates insulin secretion, which then leads to uptake and metabolism of glucose by tissues such as muscle, liver and fat. When insulin binds to muscle or liver cells, it initiates a cascade of enzymatic reactions that eventually lead to increased glucose metabolism. The factors that regulate this cascade is not completely known. One theory is that the cell's ability to make energy (called ATP) changes under certain nutritional conditions, and that low cellular ATP impairs the ability of the cells to take up and use glucose. In this project, we will investigate the role of ATP in determining