Homeostasis – blood glucose and body temperature
BiologyHuman & Animal PhysiologyAges 16–17
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Human & Animal Physiology
Eat a meal and watch blood glucose change minute by minute. In a healthy person, glucose entering the blood raises the level, pancreatic beta cells release insulin so glucose enters cells and is stored as liver glycogen, and the reading returns to the 3.9–6.4 mmol/L safe range within about two hours; between meals, alpha cells release glucagon to break glycogen back down and raise glucose again. Choose type 1 or type 2 diabetes to see glucose climb above 11 mmol/L and stay high, then inject insulin to bring it down. Switch to body temperature: drag the ambient temperature and watch the body vasodilate and sweat, or vasoconstrict and shiver, to hold its core temperature near 37 °C.
Lesson: Homeostasis and regulation of blood glucose and body temperature
What it shows
Homeostasis keeps the internal environment stable through negative feedback: a change is detected, a response opposes it, and the variable returns toward a set point. The simulation models two examples. Blood glucose depends on absorption from the gut, release of glucose from liver glycogen and uptake by cells; insulin from beta cells lowers it and glucagon from alpha cells raises it. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes break this loop at different points. In thermoregulation, the hypothalamus compares core temperature with about 37 °C and triggers heat loss or heat production.
How to use
Start in the blood glucose view: pick a Meal (carbohydrate amount), press Eat this meal and follow the glucose and insulin curves over the next few hours. Use the Status button to switch to type 1 or type 2 diabetes, repeat the same meal and compare how long glucose stays above the safe range, then try Inject insulin. Finally press View body temperature and drag the Ambient slider from cold to hot while watching core temperature and the body's response.
Parameters you can change
- Regulatory system Blood glucose (insulin–glucagon), Body temperature
- Meal (carbohydrate amount) Fasting (0 g), Light meal (30 g), Moderate meal (60 g), Large meal (100 g)
- Health status Normal, Type 1 diabetes (no insulin secretion), Type 2 diabetes (reduced cell response)
- Inject insulin when glucose exceeds 10 mmol/L
- Simulation speed 5–60 min/s
Questions to explore
- After a moderate meal, how long does it take a healthy person's blood glucose to return to the safe range?
- Why does blood glucose stay high in type 2 diabetes even though the pancreas still releases insulin?
- Which responses appear when the ambient temperature falls to 5 °C, and how does each help keep core temperature near 37 °C?
