Changes in glycogen structure over feeding cycle sheds new light on blood-glucose control.

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 a 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 beta particles, and then only assembled into large alpha 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.