Metabolism ew Flashcards
What the diagram that summarises metabolism?
What type of reaction mainly are the breakdowns of protein, fat and carbohydrates?
Oxidative processes= reactions that involve the transfer of 1 or more electrons from an electron donor (reductant) to an electron acceptor
What is ATP mainly used for?
Ion pumping
Biosynthetic reactions
Muscle contraction
Where is ATP produced?
Mainly through the electron transport chain, TCA cycle (respiration), amino acid breakdown, fatty acid oxidation and glycolysis (glucose breakdown)
What is the actual and effective free energy of hydrolysis of ATP?
Hydrolysis of ATP= releases energy
Actual= 60 kJ/mol but ATP is not 100% effective so effective= ~40 kJ/mol
Where is NADPH produced from?
Produced in the pentose-phosphate pathway from NADP+
What is NADPH used for?
Fatty acid synthesis, ribonucleitode reduction and cholesterol synthesis
At what stage of life do you need the most energy per kg?
Baby, then slowly decreases, unless are an athlete
What energy source has the biggest energy yield?
What are the different energy stores in the body?
Glucose (plasma, liver, muscle)
Triacylglycerol (adipose and muscle)
Protein
What are the pros and cons of the different glucose stores?
Plasma- very small store, used by all cells
Liver- highly hydrated so heavy and not efficient storage
Muscle- can be mobilised rapidly in fight and flight and provide glucose anaerobically, store can only be used for muscle and also heavy
What are the pros and cons of triacylglycerol energy storage?
Not hydrated- less heavy and big energy yield
However, fat oxidation requires oxygen and free fatty acids cannot be used by the brain as fuel
What are the pros and cons of protein energy storage in the body?
It is convertible to both glucose and ketone bodies
All protein is functional however, there is no excess storageq
What are the different fuels present in the blood?
Glucose, fatty acids, ketone bodies, amino acids and lactate (breakdown product of glucose in anaerobic respiration)
What are ketone bodies made of?
Breakdown of fatty acids or proteins in starvation
What parts of the body require glucose as a fuel?
Brain- mainly uses glucose cannot use fatty acids
Erythrocytes- metabolise only glucose as they do not have mitochondria
Some other tissues e.g. renal medulla
What can amino acids be broken down into?
Some are glucogenic- can be broken down into glucose
Some are ketogenic- broken down into ketones
Some are both
How is fat metabolised? (diagram)
Triacylglycerol in diet converted to chylomicrons then stored as TG in adipose and be broken down when needed to FFAs in the plasma
FFA taken up by muscles (for energy) and in the liver (for energy and to be converted to ketone bodies for brain)
What are the differences between fast twitch and slow twitch muscles?
Red=fast twitch, white= slow twitch
What is a source of ATP in muscle?
Creatine phosphate can be converted to creatine by creatine kinase and in the process ATP is produced
When energy is not needed, creatine can be rephosphorylated back
What fuels are used for muscle contraction (in anaerobic and aerobic exercise)?
Anaerobic e.g. sprinting= muscle ATP, creatine phosphate and muscle glycogen
Aerobic e.g. marathon running- fatty acids, ATP, glycogen, creatine P, and plasma glucose
What is the pathway of glucose metabolism in muscle in aerobic and anerobic conditions?
What is the cori cycle?
Where the liver converts lactate back to glucose, however comes at an ATP cost
What fuel is used in different times of moderate exercise?
Firstly running on muscle glycogen, but runs out
Plasma glucose not initially a big contributor but increases as liver glycogen breaks down
Fatty acids are major fuel towards end of exercise
How is ATP produced during exercise?
Once existing ATP runs out, ADP can be rephosphorylated by creatine phosphate
Once creatine P runs out, 2 ADP can be converted to AMP and ATP
This is why AMP slowly increases during exercise
How are enzymes controlled by phosphorylation?
An addition of a phosphate by kinases causes activation of degredative pathways
Phosphatases hydrolyse off the phosphate in the oppsite reaction, causes activation of biosynthetic pathways
What are the metabolic effects of AMP activated protein kinase?
AMP= produced in sustained exercise
What is the nitrogen balance in the body based on?
Nitrogen balance = total nitrogen ingested - total nitrogen excreted
What is the diagram that summarises nitrogen balance in the body?
What are essential and non-essential amino acids?
Essential= cannot be synthesised within the body so must be supplied in the diet
Non-essential= can be synthesised from other amino acids in the diet
Semi essential (arginine, histidine)= can make them, but not enough to fulfill requirements
What is net protein utilization?
A measure of the ability of a protein to sustain growth, e.g. cow’s milk has an NPU of 81- 81% of amino acids in cow milk can end up as body protein
What are the different conditions associated with protein malnutrition?
Kwashiorkor- adequate energy intake but protein malnutrition, body weight is 60-80% of expected with abdominal bloating due to water retention due to lack of proteins
Marasmus- inadequate intake of protein and energy
What can cause a negative nitrogen balance?
Protein deprivation, essential aminoacid deficiency, trauma, hormones e.g. cortisol and disease
What can cause a positive nitrogen balance?
Growth, pregnancy
How are circulating protein degredaded?
Recognised as damaged/modified and are taken up by receptors and endocytosed
Taken into vesicles which fuse with lysosomes which contain degradative enzymes and produce amino acids
How are intracellular proteins degredaded?
targeted for destruction by attachment of ubiquitin
String of U attaches and this modified protein is recognized by proteasome and it breaks it down to amino acids
Where does protein digestion start?
Starts in the stomach with pepsin enzyme, secreted by chief cells
How does gastric acidification occur by parietal cells?
Cells are pumping protons to stomach and bicarbonate to plasma. Can detect slight alkalization of plasma after a big meal
What secretes and activates pepsinogen?
Chief cells secrete pepsinogen as cannot directly secrete pepsin or it will digest itself
Pepsinogen is activated by H+ ion concentration in the stomach- no enzyme required
What happens to proteins once they leave the stomach?
Pepsin does not fully digest proteins, they enter into small intestine and are cleaved by proteases secreted by the pancreas
The different proteases are selective for what protein they cleave
Examples of proteinases= trypsin, chymotrypsin
What activates pancreatic proteinases?
Trypsin is activated by enteropeptidase from trypsinogen, goes on to auto catalyse that reaction and activate other proteinase precursors
How are amino acids uptaken in the intestine?
Taken through a transporter channel with sodium ions
How are amino acids broken down to ammonia?
Firstly transamination; taking the amino group off to form ketoacid or oxoacid- broken down further for fuel or reconverted
Also forms glutamate, which is converted into ammonia
Why does high levels of ammonia cause toxicity?
In a high ammonia concentration the equilibrium changes and uses up oxoglutamate (TCA cycle intermediate) and slows down TCA cycle- in the brain for example
What is ammonia converted to that is a precursor to the urea cycle?
Carbamoyl phosphate
What is the urea cycle?
Occurs in the liver
Carbamoyl phosphate is converted to urea through various steps
What can cause plasma concentrations of urea to rise and fall?
Rises in renal failure (failure to excrete)
Falls in liver cirrhosis (failure to produce0
What are some properties of urea?
- Toxic, especially to CNS
- Very soluable
- Electrically neutral
- Contains 48% Nitrogen by weight
How does nitrogen from the muscles enter the urea cycle?
Glutamate and pyruvate form alanine. This is the transporter form of amino acids to the liver