Glycogen is a highly branched glucose polymer involved in helping to maintain normal blood glucose levels. A new research from an internationalteam from Australia and China used advanced polymer characterization techniques to reveal the difference between healthy liver glycogen andglycogen in diabetes. In the healthy form particles are larger and more tightly packed than the glycogen present in type 2 diabetes.

This offers new insights into the metabolic disorder, which is characterized by uncontrolled high blood glucose, hyperglycemia, and for possible approaches to prevention and therapy.

• Molecular Structural Differences between Type-2-Diabetic and Healthy Glycogen,
  Mitchell A. Sullivan, Jiong Li, Chuanzhou Li, Francisco Vilaplana, David Stapleton, Angus A. Gray-Weale, Stirling Bowen, Ling Zheng, and Robert G. Gilbert,
  Biomacromol. 2011.
  DOI: 10.1021/bm2006054