Question

1) Mrs. Hanes, has been on Metformin for a month, she has come in for a check-up. The paperwork says she took her dose for today, but you overhear the receptionist tell the doctor that Mrs. Hanes ate a small pack of sandwich cookies 15 minutes ago in the waiting room. Explain what will happen to Mrs. Hanes blood sugar. Describe the process that the cookie will take from digestion to insulin release and excess glucose storage, first WITHOUT Metformin, and then explain where Metformin will have an impact.

2)Give two possible mechanisms of action of metformin in inhibiting cancer.

Answer 1

1.The sandwich cookie taken will be metabolized and digested in less than 4 hours.Then the end product ,so called the glucose is released and this generally enters the blood circulation and providing energy ,and the excess glucose is stored in the liver.In diabetics the insulin secretion is hampered leading to the presence of glucose innthe blood csuding elevated blood sugar. Another when metformin is taken ,its action is to decrease the production of glucose from liver and this on turn will decrease the absorption of glucose from intestine by increasing the activity of insulin and controlling The blood sugar level

2.The possible mechanism of action of metformin in inhibiting cancer are

• It acts directly onnthe mitochondria and inhibit the growth of cancer cell
• It inhibits the growth promoting factors like mOTR, SREBP1,FASN responsible for multiplication of cancer cell by directly suppressing them.