Carbohydrate

Metabolism
Chapter
Chapter 88
DR. LEONARDO C. MEDINA, JR.

Chapter Outline
1 Metabolic Pathways
2 Exercise and Energy
Metabolism
3 The Bloodstream: A
Metabolic Connection
4 Anaerobic Sequence
5 Citric Acid Cycle
(Aerobic Sequence)

6 Gluconeogenesis
7 Overview of Complex
Metabolic Pathways
8 Hormones
9 Blood Glucose and
Hormones

Metabolic Pathways

A metabolic pathway is a
series of biochemical
reactions that serve a
specific purpose.

Exercise and
Energy Metabolism

Everything we do requires metabolic

energy.
Metabolism is a complex interplay:
chemical reactions within cells lead
to chemical transport between cells.
Carbohydrate catabolism is designed
to release energy relatively quickly,
so this form of catabolism is
activated during strenuous muscular
exercise.
6

Muscle Contraction
When a muscle contracts, energy is
consumed.
Muscle contraction uses ATP; ATP is in
short supply.
Muscle tissue can contract for no more
than several seconds before the supply of
high-energy phosphate bonds is depleted.
7

Muscle Contraction
After the initial contraction, the muscle cells
look for other energy sources.
Muscle glycogen is the next available source.
This polymer breaks down to glucose, which is
oxidized to replenish the ATP supply.
Because glucose oxidation is a complex process,
muscle contraction must proceed at a slower rate.
This energy supply is only useful for about 2
minutes of work; muscles rapidly deplete their
glycogen stores and build up lactic acid.
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The Bloodstream: A
Metabolic Connection
9

 The bloodstream transports

chemicals from one cell to another.
Nutrients (e.g. glucose, amino
acids, and fatty acids) and oxygen
are delivered; metabolic products
(e.g. lactate) and carbon dioxide
are removed.

10

Overview of carbohydrate metabolism

11

 When blood glucose is in excess, it is

converted to glycogen in the liver and in
muscle tissue.
Glycogen is a storage polysaccharide; it
quickly hydrolyzes to replace depleted
glucose supplies in the blood.
The synthesis of glycogen from glucose is
called glycogenesis.
The hydrolysis, or breakdown, of glycogen
to glucose is known as glycogenolysis.
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Anaerobic Sequence

13

 In the absence of oxygen, glucose in

living cells is converted to a variety of
end products, including lactic acid (in
muscle) and alcohol (in yeast).
At least a dozen reactions, many
different enzymes, ATP, and inorganic
phosphate (Pi) are required.
Such a sequence of reactions from a
particular reactant to end product is
called a metabolic pathway.
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Embden-Myerhof pathway
The anaerobic conversion of glucose to
pyruvate is known as the EmbdenMyerhof pathway.
The sequence is a catabolic one in which
glucose is oxidatively degraded.
D-glucose

Embden-Meyerhof pathway

2 pyruvate
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16

Glycolysis
When lactate is the final product of
anaerobic glucose catabolism, the pathway
is termed glycolysis.
What glycolysis does for the cell can be
summarized with the following net
chemical equation:
C6H12O6 + 2 ADP + 2 Pi
2CH3CH(OH)COO- + 2 ATP + 150 kJ
17

Citric Acid Cycle

(Aerobic Sequence)
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Since only a small fraction of the energy

that is potentially available from glucose
is liberated during anaerobic conversion
to lactate (glycolysis), lactate remains
valuable to the cells.

The lactate formed may be:

1) Circulated back to the liver and converted to

glycogen at the expense of some ATP
2) Converted back to pyruvate in order to enter
the citric acid cycle.
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The citric acid

cycle (Krebs
cycle). During
one cycle, (1)
the carbons
marked in
blue enter the
cycle, and (2)
the carbons
marked in red
are lost as
CO2.
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Energy Summation
glucose
glycolysis

2 ATP

2 lactate
citric acid cycle,
e- transport,
oxidative phosphorylation

+ 30 ATP

6 CO2
32 ATP
21

Gluconeogenesis

22

Gluconeogenesis
The formation of glucose from
noncarbohydrate sources is called
gluconeogenesis.
Most of the glucose formed during
gluconeogenesis comes from
lactate, certain amino acids, and the
glycerol of fats.
23

An overview of gluconeogenesis. All

transformations except lactate to pyruvate
require a series of reactions.
24

Overview of Complex
Metabolic Pathways
25

A single-step oxidation process compared with a multiple

process: In the pathway, A, B, and C represent hypothetical
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pathway intermediates.

Hormones
27

Hormones
Hormones are chemical substances that act
as control agents in the body, often
regulating metabolic pathways.
Hormones help to adjust physiological
processes such as:

digestion
metabolism
growth
reproduction
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Hormones
Hormones are often called the chemical
messengers of the body.
They do not fit into any single structural
classification:
Polypeptides or proteins
Steroids
Phenol or amino acid derivatives

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Blood Glucose and

Hormones
31

 An adequate blood-glucose level must be

maintained to ensure good health.
To achieve this goal, hormones regulate
and coordinate metabolism in specific
organs.
The hormones control selected enzymes,
which, in turn, regulates the rates of
reaction in the appropriate metabolic
pathways.
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Conditions
related to the
concentration of
glucose in the
blood.

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Typical responses to a glucose-tolerance test.

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