University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest

Faculty of Management, Economical Engineering in Agriculture and Rural

Development
Management and Rural Development

The accidental discovery

of Insulin

Student: Dobrota Sorina

Contens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Definition of Insulin
Roles of Insulin
The accidental discovery of Insulin
Diseases
Synthetic insulin
The Nobel Prize
Bibliography

1. Definition of Insulin

Insulin is a hormone produced in the

pancreas which regulates the amount
of glucose in the blood.

2.Roles of Insulin

Insulin regulates
how the body uses
and stores glucose
and fat

Insulin helps cells

to take in glucose
to be used for
energy.

If the body has

sufficient energy,
insulin signals the
liver to take up
glucose and store
it as glycogen

3.The accidental discovery of Insulin

In 1921 two researchers, Fred

Banting and Charles Best were
looking for a cure for diabetes;
They start to perform their
experiments using animals

3.The accidental discovery of Insulin

To test their
theory Banting
and Best used
10 dogs.

3.The accidental discovery of Insulin

They made the
dogs diabetic and
then investigated
treatments for the
diabetes.
The result of their
research has
saved the lives of
millions of people.

Theislets of
Langerhansare the
regions of
thepancreasthat
contain itsendocrine

4.Diseases
Type 1 diabetes: the bodys own

immune cells attack the insulin

producing beta cells of the pancreas.
This leads to an absolute insulin
deficiency

4.Diseases
Type 2:

body fails to
produce the required
amount of insulin

4.Diseases
Insulinoma:
the pancreas is
producing too
much insulin

5.Synthetic Insulin
Synthetic insulin is made in
laboratories and is used by those
witch body cant produce insulin;

6.The Nobel Prize

The news of the

successful treatment
of diabetes with
insulin rapidly spread;
In 1923 the Nobel
Committee decided to
award Banting and
Best the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or
Medicine.

7. Bibliography

http://www.nobelprize.org/educational
/medicine/insulin/discovery-insulin.h
tml
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.or
g/insulin.php

Thank you for your

attention