Hypoglycemia: Neural Pathways of the Glucose Counter-Regulatory Response, Hypoglycemia Unawareness and its Treatment

Symposium — Sunday, April 23, 2024 — 3:15 PM - 5:15 PM — , Room W375A
Integrative Physiology Symposium Series — Chair: Tony J. Verberne — Co-Chair:

Hypoglycemia is the most feared side-effect of insulin treatment experienced by people living with diabetes. Several bouts of hypoglycemia can lead to hypoglycemia unawareness and hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure. Hypoglycemia triggers the glucose counter-regulatory response (GCRR) which is characterised by increased secretion of glucagon, epinephrine and less importantly, cortisol and growth hormone. In Type 1 diabetes, glucagon secretion is impaired, increasing the risk of serious hypoglycemia. While glucose sensing occurs in the periphery as well as at several CNS sites, recent investigations point to the importance of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus and the adjacent perifornical region as brain structures that orchestrate glucagon and epinephrine release in response to hypoglycaemia. This Integrative Physiology Symposium will discuss the impact of hypoglycemia on diabetes treatment and shed light on the central and peripheral circuits involved in the GCRR.

Speakers

• Clinical Impact of Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia in Diabetes
  Elizabeth Seaquist — Division of Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology, University of Minnesota


• Preserving Hypoglycemia Counter-Regulation in Diabetes: th Role of Anti-Oxidant Defense
  
  Vanessa Routh — Department of Pharmacology, Rutgers University


• Perifornical Hypothalamic Orexin Neurons and the Counter-regulatory Response to Hypoglycemia
  William Seiji Korim — , Florey Institute of Neuroscince and Mental Health


• Early Sympathetic Islet Neuropathy in Autoimmune Diabetes
  Gerald J Taborsky, Jr — Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Univ. of Washington