Glucose Metabolism and Regulation

Dear Colleagues,

In organisms, glucose plays a crucial role in energy expenditure. All carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins eventually break down into glucose, which is the primary fuel for all metabolic activities. Simultaneously, glucose is the primary precursor for the synthesis of various carbohydrates such as glycogen, ribose, deoxyribose, galactose, glycolipids, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans. At the cellular level, glucose is usually the final substrate entering tissues or cells and being converted into ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is used by the body in a variety of different ways, including molecular transportation, mitosis, meiosis, neutral transmission, muscle contraction, hormone secretion, and many other essential activities to life.

The metabolism of glucose in mammals involves several processes, including glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis, and glycogenesis. Glycolysis is a process in the liver that involves various enzymes to catabolize glucose when serum glucose levels rise, usually after a diet. Gluconeogenesis, on the other hand, is the synthesis of glucose from noncarbohydrate sources when there is no glucose consumption. There are glucose synthesis components in the mitochondria of liver cells. During fasting periods, the pancreas secretes glucagon, a peptide hormone, to convert glycogen, the stored form of glucose in the liver, into glucose. This process is called glycogenolysis. The process of synthesizing glycogen is termed glycogenesis and occurs when excess carbohydrates exist in the liver.

All these mentioned metabolisms are crucial for energy consumption in human bodies, and the homeostasis of glucose must be maintained on a daily basis. However, this homeostasis is challenged by age or genetic disorders. Pathological issues of glucose metabolisms, such as diabetes mellitus, are well known but not completely understood. In this Special Issue, we aim to encourage the submission of molecular-level studies on the pathways, theoretical modeling, experimental assessment, and animal models involving the glucose metabolisms. Key biomarkers derived from aging, environmental factors, or genetic disorder are of particular interest, but are not limited to just that. In the literature, it has also been interesting to notice that when using radiolabeled glucose analogs in cellular images, many tumor cells exhibit an excessive glucose uptake, a phenomenon that could be related to the abnormal context of cancer metabolisms.

We welcome review articles and original research papers as well, aiming to relate key issues of basic or applied research and materials to biomedical applications overall. This Special Issue may include the following research topics:

• Theoretical modeling of glucose metabolisms.
• Image processing related to glucose in 3D or novel in vitro cell, tissue, or organ cultures.
• Experimental design for the detection and measuring of the glucose metabolisms.
• Data analysis for the glucose metabolisms.
• Oncological glucose metabolisms.
• In vitro quantitative prognosis or diagnosis for glucose metabolisms.
• Glucose-related drug studies.

Prof. Dr. Chuan Li
Prof. Dr. Vincent Chan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• glucose metabolism
• pathways
• theoretical modeling
• experimental assessment
• animal models
• image processing
• glucose-related drug studies