- Duncan is a Caucasian male (age 14) that is brought to yourattention because his family concerned about his inability toperform strenuous exercise. Duncan suffered severe muscle crampingduring his P.E. classes but is normal if at doing routine physicalactivity or performing light to moderate exercise. A physicalexamination showed poorly developed muscle tissue, but his liversize was normal. A fasting glucose level check showed normallevels.
- You suspect that Duncan is suffering from a glycogen metabolismrelated disease and check his response to glucagon. You inject himwith a large dose of the hormone and measure the glucose levels inhis blood. After the injection, Duncan’s blood glucose levels rosesharply.
Why did you perform this test?
Is Duncan’s glucagon response what youwould expect in a normal person? Explain briefly
- To further investigate you analyze biopsies of Duncan’s muscleand liver. Although the structure of the glycogen in both tissuesappear to be normal, there is an elevation in the glycogen level inthe muscle tissue, while that in the liver is within normalrange.
What is a hypothesis regardingDuncan’s condition?
