mitochondria physiology Flashcards
what is function of mitchondria?
they are the site of ATP production
The Krebs cycle occurs here
how is ATP made?
ATP synthase catalyses reaction of ADP+inorganic phosphate
what is the physiological range of ATP?
in cytosol ranges from 1-10mM
How does ATP generates energy ?
ATP is bound to magnesium usually
hydrolysis reaction releases energy as ATP is very negatively charged and there is significant amound of energy stored between phosphate bonds
from which processes can ATP be produced?
around 80% ATP generated from from mitch/Krebs cycle
ATP also generated from glycolysis too
what is the turnover of ATP?
very rapid ~ 1 min in resting cells to 1second in active muscle
why is the turnover of ATP so high?
because of the ANT (adenosine nucleoide translocase) on IMM exchanges 4 ATP out and 3 ADP in
this net negative conc. gradient allows ATP to leave cell quickly
how can we measure mitch function?
oxygen consumption
membrane potential
autofluorescence
what is meant by coupled ATP synthesis
mitochondrial oxygen consumption goes towards generating ATP
what is meant by uncoupled ATP synthesis?
mitochondral oxygen consumption doesn’t generate ATP
instead used for heat generation (as seen in brown fat)
what biological processes is ATP used for
skeletal muscle contraciton
protein synthesis
Na/K ATPase // active transport
why does the kidney have the highest ATP turnover?
needs lots of energy to pump different ions against their conc. grad in the nephron
powers AT processes
what is different about skeletal muscle ATP consumption than that of kidneY?
much more dynamic, not static ATP turnover
demand for energy changes depending on it contracting or not
what is the electrochemical gradient of mitch?
negative 150mV which drives the action of Electron transport chain to generate ATP
how can we investigate ATP synthesis?
use different poisons/chemicals or uncoupler to inhibit different aspects of ATP synthesis
> ETC
> glycolysis
> proton circuit
how do synthetic uncouplers like FCCP and DNP work?
they disrupt proton circuit and collapse the membrane potential
so mitch increases its work to try and restore this = heat generation
> brown fat may posesss natural uncouplers
how can oligomycin be used as a tool to study ATP?
it blocks ATP synthase so prevents any more ATP being made and doesn’t affect the ETC
what is unique about cultured cells (metabolism)
they are all glycolytic and consume far more glucose than the normal cell