Carbohydrate metabolism (final exam) Flashcards
Metabolism of monosaccharides and disaccharides, pentose-phosphate pathway
What are the major sources of dietary fructose?
- Sucrose
- Free monosaccharide in many fruits, in honey, and in high-fructose corn syrup
What distinguishes uptake of fructose into cells from uptake of glucose?
It is not insulin-dependent
What is the major metabolic fate of fructose?
Conversion to DHAP, GA3P, and glyceraldehyde for use in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, as well as other pathways
What is the first step of fructose metabolism?
(1) fructose + ATP → fructose-1-phosphate + ADP, OR
(2) fructose + ATP → fructose-6-phosphate + ADP
(1): catalyzed by fructokinase
(2): catalyzed by hexokinase
What are the two enzymes that catalyze the phosphorylation of fructose?
- Hexokinase
- Fructokinase
What are the differences between fructokinase and hexokinase in the phosphorylation of fructose?
Fructokinase
- Produces fructose-1-phosphate
- Found in the liver, kidney, and small intestinal mucosa
Hexokinase
- Produces fructose-6-phosphate
- Has a high Km, so it does not function unless intracellular fructose levels are high
What is the fate of fructose-1-phosphate?
fructose-1-phosphate ⇌ glyceraldehyde + dihydroxyacetone phosphate
Catalyzed by *aldolase B *
What is the fate of fructose-6-phosphate?
Continues through glycolysis normally
What are the different aldolases?
- Aldolase A: found in most tissues; cleaves F-1,6-BP only
- Aldolase B: found in the liver; cleaves F-1,6-BP AND F-1-P
- Aldolase C: found in the brain; cleaves F-1,6-BP only
Which is faster: glycolysis, or fructose metabolism (which eventually merges with glycolysis)?
Fructose metabolism, because the trioses formed from fructose-1-phosphate bypass PFK-1, the rate-limiting step of glycolysis
What are the features of essential fructosuria?
- Deficiency in fructokinase
- Autosomal recessive
- Benign condition
- Fructose accumulates in the urine
Deficiency in which enzyme results in essential fructosuria?
Fructokinase
Deficiency in which enzyme results in hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI)?
Aldolase B
What are the features of hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI)?
- Autosomal recessive
- Absence of aldolase B
- Symptoms begin when baby is weaned off milk and is fed food containing sucrose or fructose
- F-1P begins to accumulate, resulting in a drop in levels of ATP and Pi
- As ATP levels fall, AMP levels rise, and AMP is eventually degraded, resulting in hyperuricemia and lactic acidosis
- Decreased availability of hepatic ATP affects gluconeogenesis and plasma protein synthesis and may lead to liver failure
- Symptoms: severe hypoglycemia, vomiting, jaundice, hemorrhage, hepatomegaly, renal dysfunction, hyperuricemia, lacticacidemia
How is hereditary fructose intolerance treated?
Sucrose, sorbitol, and fructose must be removed from the diet to prevent liver failure
How is glucose converted to sorbitol?
glucose + NADPH + H+ → sorbitol + NADP+
Catalyzed by aldose reductase
Where in the body is sorbitol produced?
- Lens
- Retina
- Schwann cells of peripheral nerves
- Liver
- Kidney
- Placenta
- RBCs
- Ovaries and seminal vesicles
How is sorbitol converted to fructose?
sorbitol + NAD+ (or NADP+) → fructose + NADH (or NADPH)
Catalyzed by sorbitol dehydrogenase
Where in the body is sorbitol reduced to fructose?
- Liver
- Ovaries
- Seminal vesicles
How is sorbitol implicated in cell swelling?
- During hyperglycemia, glucose enters the cells containing aldose reductase freely, as they do not use the insulin-sensitive GLUT-4
- High intracellular glucose levels accompanied with adequate NAPH/NADH cause aldose reductase to produce a high amount of sorbitol
- Sorbitol cannot pass through cell membranes and is trapped inside the cell, causing uptake of whater by osmosis
- Water retention occurs
- This problem is exacerbated when the tissue does not contain sorbitol dehydrogenase, e.g. the lens, nerves, retina, and kidneys
- Some of the pathologic changes in diabetes can be attributed to this phenomenon, e.g. cataracts, peripheral neuropathy, microvascular problems leading to nephropathy and retinopathy
What are the major sources of galactose?
- Milk and milk products
- Degradation of complex carbohydrates, e.g. glycoproteins and glycolipids in cell membranes
What is the first step of galactose metabolism?
galactose + ATP → galactose-1-phosphate + ADP
Catalyzed by galactokinase
How is galactose-1-phosphate converted to UDP-galactose?
UDP-glucose + galactose-1-phosphate ⇌ UDP-galactose + glucose-1-phosphate
Catalyzed by galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT)
What are the fates of UDP-galactose?
- Converted to UDP-glucose by UDP-hexose 4-epimerase for use in glucose metabolism
- Donor of galactose units in synthetic pathways of lactose, glycoproteins, glycolipids, and glycosaminoglycans
What are the disorders of fructose metabolism?
- Essential fructosemia (fructokinase deficiency)
- Hereditary fructose intolerance (aldolase B deficiency)
What are the disorders of galactose metabolism?
- Galactokinase deficiency
- Classic galactosemia (GALT deficiency)
What are the features of galactokinase deficiency?
- Elevation of galactose in blood (galactosemia) and urine (galactosuria)
- Causes galactitol accumulation if galactose is present in the diet, leading to cataracts
- Treated by dietary restriction
What are the features of classic galactosemia?
- GALT deficiency
- Autosomal recessive
- Causes galactosemia, galactosuria, vomiting, diarrhea, and jaundice
- Accumulation of Gal-1P and galactitol in nerve, lens, liver, and kidney tissue causes liver damage, severe mental retardation, and cataracts
- Treated by rapid diagnosis and removal of galactose (and therefore lacose) from the diet
- Despite adequate treatment, patients are at risk for developmental delays and premature ovarian failure
What is the structure of lactose?
Gal-β(1→4)-Glc
Where in the cell is lactose synthesized?
Golgi apparatus
What is the enzyme that is used to synthesize lactose?
Lactose synthase (UDP-galactose:glucose galactosyltransferase), composed of:
- Protein A (β-ᴅ-galactosyltransferase), an enzyme
- Protein B (α-lactalbumin), which is not an enzyme