Page 53 - Consciousness in the Cell

transport protein cell membrane
insulin molecule

outside
insulin
receptor
‹nside
region
glucose molecule
sac
nucleus
When insulin binds to a
receptor in the cell mem-
brane (1), special proteins in
the cell (2) go into action. This is
a signal to glucose transporters. In endosome
addition, there are glucose sacs in the
inner part of the cell (3). Some are close to the cell membrane (4). On receiving the signal,
these sacs move towards the cell membrane and fuse with it (5), exposing the glucose trans-
porters (6). With the increase in the number of transport proteins that take glucose into the
cell, the glucose level in the blood drops and less insulin is produced. A short while later, a
portion of the cell membrane, together with the transport proteins, curls around towards the
inside of the cell (7), forming a vesicle (8). Moving toward the middle of the cell, it combines
with the endosome (9). Here, once new sacs are formed, it awaits a new signal (10), and the
process continues.

7. These gateways don't open up indiscriminately, however.
Out of the hundreds of different molecules in the blood, storage
cells isolate, capture, and take in only sugar molecules.
8. Under no circumstances do the cells disobey the orders that
reach them. They don't misread the order, or try to capture other
molecules, or try to store more sugar than they need to. They work
with great discipline.
When you drink tea that has too much sugar in it, this extraor-
dinary system goes into action and stores the excess. If this system
were not working, your blood sugar level would rise to the point
that you would slip into a coma and die. This is such a perfect sys-
tem that if need arises, it works in exactly the opposite direction. If
your blood sugar level falls below normal, the pancreas produces
a completely different hormone called glucagon, which sends a
"Release sugar into the blood" command to those same cells that
had stored it previously, and these cells obey.

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