Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Computational Reconstruction of Pancreatic Islets as a Tool for Structural and Functional Analysis
Published on: March 9, 2022
Mathematical modeling of the glucose-insulin system: a review
Pasquale Palumbo1, Susanne Ditlevsen, Alessandro Bertuzzi
1BioMatLab, IASI "A. Ruberti", National Council of Researches, UCSC Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Abstract:
Mathematical modeling of the glucose-insulin feedback system is necessary to the understanding of the homeostatic control, to analyze experimental data, to identify and quantify relevant biophysical parameters, to design clinical trials and to evaluate diabetes prevention or disease modification therapies. Much work has been made over the last 30years, and the time now seems ripe to provide a comprehensive review. The one here proposed is focused on the most important clinical/experimental tests performed to understand the mechanism of glucose homeostasis. The review proceeds from models of pancreatic insulin production, with a coarser/finer level of detail ranging over cellular and subcellular scales, to short-term organ/tissue models accounting for the intra-venous and the oral glucose tolerance tests as well as for the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, to total-body, long-term diabetes models aiming to represent disease progression in terms of β-cell population dynamics over a long period of years.
Related Concept Videos
Glucose Homeostasis: Pancreatic Islets and Insulin Secretion
Insulin and C-peptide are co-secreted in...
Hormones Regulating Blood Glucose
In addition to accelerating glucose uptake and utilization, insulin has...
Glucose Homeostasis: Regulation of Blood Glucose
During fasting, when blood glucose levels are low, the pancreas secretes glucagon. it...
Insulin Secretory Vesicles
Feedback Loops
Insulin: The Receptor and Signaling Pathways

