Glucose Alanine Cycle

Question 1

Liver produces glucose for?

Answer 1

Muscle contraction

Increases efficiency

Question 2

Firstly, what is taking place in muscles?

Answer 2

Reverse transamination

Question 3

What is the equation for reverse transamination?

Answer 3

Glutamate + pyruvate = alanine + alpha ketoglutarate

Question 4

What happens to excess alanine?

Answer 4

Transported to the liver (in blood)

Question 5

What happens in the liver to the alanine?

Answer 5

Transamination

Alanine + alpha ketoglutarate = glutamate + pyruvate

Question 6

What are the products of transamination used in?

Answer 6

Glutamate = used in oxidative deamination to get rid of excess NH3 in urea cycle

Pyruvate = glucose (gluconeogenesis)

Question 7

Where does the glucose from the liver go?

Answer 7

Glucose enters blood and go back to muscle cells for contraction of muscles

Question 8

What happens in the muscle to allow the cycle to continue?

Answer 8

Glycolysis (produce pyruvate) to continue cycle back to 1

Question 9

Most of the bodies fat is stored in?

And some in where?

Answer 9

Adipocytes (mainly white, some brown from birth)

Hepatocytes

Question 10

What % of the diet is lipids and mostly what type of lipid?

Answer 10

90% in diet
Triacetyglycerides (TAGs)
Others are phospholipids, Vits ADEK and cholesterol

Question 11

How much of the energy store do triglycerides account for?

Answer 11

78% of energy stored in the body

Question 12

What are the functions of lipids?

Answer 12

Energy reserve (fatty acid beta oxidation - fa metabolized to release energy) 9.5kcal/g
Shock absorbent
Cell membrane components (structure) - cholesterol & phospholipids
Hormone metabolism eg, oestrogen

Question 13

What are the energy reserves for?
Blood glucose 
Glycogen
Muscle protein
Lipid

Answer 13

40kcal
600kcal
30000kcal
100000kcal

Question 14

What process produces most of the body’s ATP?

Answer 14

Beta oxidation