CELLULAR BIOLOGY - Non-ruminant Digestion and Metabolism Flashcards
What are the main nutritional energy sources used by most mammals?
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Proteins
Which enzyme cleaves alpha 1-4 glycosidic bonds?
Amylase
Where does carbohydrate digestion begin in pigs?
Carbohydrate digestion begins at the mouth by the actions of lingual amylase
Where in the digestive tract does the majority of carbohydrate digestion occur?
Carbohydrate digestion occurs predominately within the small intestine by the actions of pancreatic amylase
What are the four main steps of carbohydrate digestion?
- Enzymatic digestion of polysaccharides into disaccharides
- Enzymatic digestion of disaccharides into monosaccharides
- Absorption of monosaccharides into the small intestinal wall and into the bloodstream
- Transport of monosaccharides to target cells
Describe the process of enzymatic digestion of polysaccharides into disaccharides
Amylase cleaves the alpha 1-4 glycosidic bonds to break down polysaccharides into disaccharides
Describe the process of enzymatic digestion of disaccharides into monosaccharides
Cell surface enzymes on the enterocyte microvilli cleave disaccharides into monosaccharides (glucose)
Describe how glucose is absorbed into the small intestinal wall and into the bloodstream
Glucose in the small intestinal wall is absorbed into the enterocytes and into the bloodstream via active transport or facilitated diffusion
Describe the process of glucose transport to target cells
Glucose is transported around the body dissolved in the blood and taken up into target cells via GLUT proteins
What are the four metabolic processes that glucose is involved in?
Glycolysis
Glycogenesis
Glycogenolysis
Fatty acid synthesis
What is glycolysis?
Glycolysis is the breakdown of glucose into pyruvate
What is glycogenesis?
Glycogenesis is glycogen synthesis from glucose
What is the enzyme which converts glucose into glycogen during glycogenesis?
Glycogen synthase
What physiological condition stimulates glycogenesis?
When blood glucose levels are high, insulin secretion activates glycogen synthase which converts glucose into glycogen
Where in the body is glucose stored as glycogen?
Hepatocytes
Skeletal muscle cells
What is glycogenolysis?
Glycogenolysis is the breakdown of glycogen into glucose
What is the enzyme which converts glycogen back into glucose during glucogenolysis?
Glucose-6-phosphatase
What physiological condition stimulates glyocgenolysis?
When blood glucose levels are low, glucagon secretion activates glucose-6-phosphatase which converts glycogen back into glucose
Why do only the glycogen stores in the liver undergo glycogenolysis and contribute to blood glucose levels?
Liver cells have the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase whereas skeletal muscle cells do not and thus the glycogen stores within these muscle cells can only be used as an energy source for the muscle itself and do not contribute to the blood glucose levels
What physiological condition stimulates fatty acid synthesis from glucose?
When blood glucose levels are high, insulin secretion stimulates excess glucose to be converted into fatty acids and stored as triacylglycerols (TAGs)
Where in the body are fatty acids stored as triacylglycerols (TAGs)?
Hepatocytes
Adipose cells
Where within the cell does fatty acid synthesis occur?
Fatty acid synthesis occurs within the cytoplasm of the cell
Describe the process of the fatty acid synthesis pathway
- Within the cytoplasm, glycolysis converts glucose into pyruvate which passes into the mitochondria
- Within the mitochondria, pyruvate is converted into acetyl CoA
- Acetyl CoA undergoes a condensation reaction with oxaloacetate to produce citrate which enters the citric acid cycle
- Citrate can cross the mitochondrial membrane back into the cytoplasm where it is broken down into acetyl CoA and oxalocaetate
- Acetyl CoA undergoes fatty acid synthesis in the cytoplasm and is stored as triacylglycerols (TAGs) in liver and adipose cells
Where in the digestive tract does the majority of lipid digestion occur?
Lipid digestion occurs predominately within the small intestine by the actions of pancreatic lipase
Other than pancreatic lipase, what are the other enzymes involved in lipid digestion?
Lingual lipase
Gastric lipase
Lipoprotein lipase
What is the role of bile salts in lipid digestion?
Bile salts mediate emulsification of lipids
Describe the process of lipid emulsification and why it is so important for lipid digestion
Lipids are hydrophobic molecules and thus clump together in the small intestine to form fat droplets. Small intestinal motility breaks down these fat droplets and mixes them with bile, coating them in bile salts, forming lipoprotein complexes, prevent the lipids from re-clumping and to increase the surface area of the lipids for enzymatic digestion
What is the structure of lipoprotein complexes?
Lipoprotein complexes have a central hydrophobic core containing triacylglycerols (TAGs) and cholesterol. This hydrophobic core is surrounded by hydrophilic membrane consisting of phospholipids and free cholesterol
What are the specific lipoprotein complexes formed within the small intestine?
Chylomicrons