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Updated: May 4, 2026

The Extraction of Liver Glycogen Molecules for Glycogen Structure Determination
Published on: February 8, 2022
Changes in glycogen structure over feeding cycle sheds new light on blood-glucose control
Mitchell A Sullivan1, Samuel T N Aroney, Shihan Li
1Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
Abstract:
Liver glycogen, a highly branched polymer of glucose, is important for maintaining blood-glucose homeostasis. It was recently shown that db/db mice, a model for Type 2 diabetes, are unable to form the large composite glycogen α particles present in normal, healthy mice. In this study, the structure of healthy mouse-liver glycogen over the diurnal cycle was characterized using size exclusion chromatography and transmission electron microscopy. Glycogen was found to be formed as smaller β particles, and then only assembled into large α particles, with a broad size distribution, significantly after the time when glycogen content had reached a maximum. This pathway, missing in diabetic animals, is likely to give optimal blood-glucose control during the daily feeding cycle. Lack of this control may contribute to, or result from, diabetes. This discovery suggests novel approaches to diabetes management.
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