insulin

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insulin Hormone secreted by the islets of Langherhans in the pancreas and concerned with the control of blood-glucose levels. Insulin lowers the blood-glucose level by helping the uptake of glucose into cells, and by causing the liver to convert glucose to glycogen. In the absence of insulin, glucose accumulates in the blood and urine, resulting in diabetes. Insulin was isolated in 1921 by Canadian physician Frederick Banting and Canadian physiologist Charles Best. Its structure was discovered in the 1940s by English biochemist Frederick Sanger.

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