Glycogen metabolism in muscle and liver Flashcards
What is glycogen?
- Polysaccharide: storage form of glucose in the body
- Stored in granules predominantly in liver and muscle as an energy reserve
How is glycogen formed?
•Glycogen is formed from dietary glucose by the process of glycogenesis
How is glycogen utilised?
- Liver glycogen is utilised to maintain plasma glucose levels between meals, whereas muscle glycogen is required to sustain muscle contraction
- Glycogen is degraded between meals in the liver by the glycogenolysis pathway to produce glucose-1-phosphate which can be converted to free glucose and exported into the bloodstream to maintain plasma glucose levels. It can also be broken down in muscle to provide the energy to support muscle contraction.
Is more glycogen stored in the liver or muscle?
In the fed state glycogen constitutes:
10% of the weight of the liver
2% of the weight of muscle
BUT
40% of human body weight is muscle
2.5% of human body weight is liver
SO
Overall, more glycogen stored in muscle
Why is gluconeogenesis required?
The liver contains less glycogen than is required to sustain glucose metabolism for 24 hours therefore require de novo synthesis by gluconeogenesis
What is the structure of glycogen?
•Found in the form of granules within cells. Highly branched polysaccharide of glucose consisting of (α-1,4)linked glucose molecules with an (α-1,6)branch every 8-14 glucose residues
Label the linkages on glycogen
Why is it important for glycogen to be branched?
•Important to provide large number of ends at which phosphorylase and glycogen synthase can act to ensure rapid breakdown and resynthesis
What molecule is this?
Which linkages are used to form glycogen?
What is Glycogen breakdown?
Glycogen breakdown (glycogenolysis)
- In time of metabolic need, cells switch on the breakdown of stored glycogen very rapidly using a combination of signals
- This process is often known as mobilisation
- The breakdown products meet different needs in liver and muscle
What is the reaction for glycogenolysis?
When does glycogen breakdown occur in the muscle?
Muscle mobilises glycogen to fuel its own energy requirements via glycolysis to support contraction
Complete the diagram on glycogen breakdown in the muscle
When does glycogen breakdown occur in the liver?
Liver glycogen is converted to glucose between meals for export to other tissues
What glycogenolysis enyme does the liver have which the muscle does not?
Liver can convert gluc-6-phosphate into glucose because it expresses the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase which muscle does not
Complete the diagram on glycogen breakdown in the liver
Complete the graph axis labels
What is the relationship between blood glucose and liver glycogen stores throughout the day?
- Glycogen stores rise after a meal in response to an increase in blood glucose; between meals glycogen stores fall as glucose is released from liver glycogen to stabilize the concentration of glucose in the blood
- Overnight glycogen stores are mobilized to help maintain blood glucose concentration
What is the Mechanism of glycogen breakdown?
- The α1-4 linkages are broken by PHOSPHOROLYSIS, catalysed by the enzyme GLYCOGEN PHOSPHORYLASE
- It removes single units from non-reducing ends of glycogen to form GLUCOSE-1-PHOSPHATE
Complete the diagram on glycogen breakdown
Is ATP involved in this reaction?
No