A mid aged woman comes to the clinic complaining of excessive thirst, frequent urination, and blurred vision. She also has been feeling unusually fatigued over the past month. The physician orders a fasting plasma glucose test, which reveals an extremely elevated glucose level of 250. In response to this elevated blood glucose, which of the following physiologic processes normally occurs?

Question

A mid aged woman comes to the clinic complaining of excessive thirst, frequent urination, and blurred vision. She also has been feeling unusually fatigued over the past month. The physician orders a fasting plasma glucose test, which reveals an extremely elevated glucose level of 250. In response to this elevated blood glucose, which of the following physiologic processes normally occurs?

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

When a patient presents with markedly elevated blood glucose, the body’s normal compensatory response is to increase insulin secretion from pancreatic β cells to facilitate cellular glucose uptake and restore normoglycemia.
Option a) Pancreatic β cells secrete insulin: This is the correct mechanism. Elevated glucose triggers β cells to release insulin, promoting glucose uptake in muscle and adipose tissue and inhibiting hepatic glucose production, which works to lower blood glucose levels.
Option b) Pancreatic α cells secrete glucagon: Glucagon from α cells raises blood glucose by promoting gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. This would counteract hyperglycemia rather than respond to it, so it is not the normal response to high glucose.
Option c) Adipose tissue breaks down triglycerides to release free fatty acids: Lipolysis in adipose tissue is stimulated by insulin deficiency or counterregulatory hormones during fasting or starvation, not in response to high glucose. Insulin actually suppresses lipolysis, so this option describes a process opposite to the expected response.
Option d) The liver increases gluconeogenesis: Gluconeogenesis increases hepatic glucose production and would worsen hyperglycemia. It is typically suppressed by insulin in the fed state, making this an incorrect response to elevated blood glucose.

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