Nutrient metabolism Flashcards
Define energy
- The capacity for doing work
- Can be converted but cannot be broken down or created
What are the units of energy?
- Measured by capacity to produce heat
- Measured in Joules (=1newton/m = 0.24 calories)
What is energy used for?
- Synthesis of macromolecules and biomolecules
- Active transport of molecules and ions across membranes
- Mecchanical worm in cellular movements e.g. muscle contraction
What is the absorptive state in digestion?
- Just after eating (2 hours)
- Is the period in which nutrients from food are absorbed by the body
What is the post-absorptive state in digestion?
- Longer after eating
- Nuritents no longer absorbed from food
- In this state, energy is utilised from stored nutrients
Outline carbohydrate digestion and absorption
- Alpha amylase breakdown of starch completed in SI by pancreatic amylase
- Disaccharides broken down to monosaccharides by maltase, sucrase and lactase (brush border enzymes)
- Glucose and galactose actively transported across intestinal mucosa
- Facilitated transport of fructose
- Glucose, galactose and fructose transported to the liver via the portal vein
Outline amino acid digestion/absorption
- AAs actively transported inot epithelial cells
- From there to blood stream to portal vein to liver for first stage in metabolism
Outline lipid digestion/absorption
- FFAs trnasported to epithelial cells
- TAGs reformed
- Coalesce to form chylomicrons
- Released into lymph, then circualtion
- Bypasses hepatic metabolism
List the energy sources in the absorptive state in the ruminant
- VFAs
- Amino acids
- (Carbohydrates used by microorganisms in the rumen)
List the energy sources in the absorptive state in non-ruminants
- Amino acid
- Glucose
- TAGs
What are the potential fates of glucose?
- Energy source (almost all tissues)
- Glycogen synthesis (liver, skeletal muscle)
- TAG synthesis (liver, adipose)
What are the basic steps in aerobic metabolism of glucose?
- Glycolysis producing 2 pyruvates
- Pyruvate into TCA cycle
What are the basic steps in anaerobic metabolism of glucose?
- Glycolysis producing 2 pyruvates
- Pyruvate into Cori cycle
What is the role of glycolysis in nutrient metabolism?
- Breakdown of glucose to pyruvate
- Produces pyruvate
- Need this carry out anaerobic and aerobic metabolism
What are the products of aerobic metabolism?
- ATP
- CO2
- H2O
What are the products of anaerobic metabolism
- ATP
- Lactate
Describe what happens to the pyruvate molecules produced by glycolysis under anaerobic conditions
- 2 pyruvates produced as normal
- Utilise 2 NADH (also produced by gycolysis) and 2 H+ to convert 2 pyruvate into 2 lactic acid molecules
- Catalysed by lactate dehydrogenase
- Produces 2NAD+ and 2lactic acid molecules
- Lactic acid molecules enter cori cycle
Describe the process of glycolysis
- Occurs the same under anaerobic or aerobic conditions
- Glucose to 2 pyruvate using 2Pi, 2NAD+ and 2 ADP
- This produces 2 pyruvates, 2ATP, 2NADH, 2H+ and 2H2O
What is the fate of the NAD+ produced by under anaerobic conditions?
- Oxidative reduction cannot take place
- NAD can be used in glycolysis
- Get build up of lactic acid and enters bloodstream
Describe the TCA cycle
- Aerobic conditions
- Pyruvate to acetyl CoA by pyruvate dehydrogenase
- Permanent change
- Acetyl CoA ouples with oxaloacetate to form citrate
- Citrate oxidised back to oxaloacetate => CO2
- Produces 3NADH, 1FADH2 adn GTP
Where does oxidative phosphorylation occur?
Across the inner membrane of mitochondria
Describe the process of oxidative phosphorylation
- NADH donates electron to electon carrier chain (ECC)
- Electron carriers form 3 aggregates within membrane
- 2 electron carriers shuttling electrons between aggregates
- Ubiquinol and cytochrome C
- Each time electron transported through an aggregate results in transport of proton from mitochondrial matrix to intermembrane space
- Leads to proton gradient
- protons back to inner matrix via ATP synthase = 1ATP per proton
How many ATP molecules can be produced per NADH molecule in oxidative phosphorylation?
- 3
- 3 protons are transported, so 3 ATP are produced
How many ATP molecules can be produced by FADH2 molecules in oxidative phosphorylation?
- 2
- Enters further down chain, donates 2 protons
Describe the Cori cycle
- Anaerobic respiration
- Convert lactate to pyruvate to precent acidosis
- Lactate converted to pyruvate in liver cells
- Pyruvate used to produce glucose -6-phosphate
- This also requires ATP
- Process of gluconeogenesis
- Liver uses ATP produced by muscle cells in glycolysis
How many ATP molecules are produced in anaerobic conditions?
2 molecules
How many molecules of ATP are produced in aerobic conditions?
38 molecules
When are FFAs converted to TAG and laid down as fat?
- In absorptive state
- Glucose provides most of energy requirements
- When glycogen stores make up 5% of liver mass
How are free fatty acids (FFAs) transported?
- Bound to albumin
- Finite amount of this at any one time
Name the different lipoproteins
- Chylomicrons
- Very low density lipoproteins (VLDLs)
- Low density lipoproteins (LDLs)
- High density lipoproteins (HDLs)
- Also less importantly intermediate density lipoproteins (IDLs)
Describe the structure of lipoproteins
- Made up of proteins, cholesterol, phospholipids and TAG
- Ratio of lipid to protein changes
- More lipid = lower density
- Size decreases as density increases
Describe the transport of FFAs from the gut epithelium
- Chylomicrons produced in gut epithelium
- Via lymphatic system to blood capillaries
- Lipoprotein lipase digests mchylomicrons in blood, releases FFAs
- FFAs diffuse across into various cells
- In adipose tissue laid down as TAG
- Can be absorbed by other tissues and used as energy source
- Chylomicron remnants left following digestion by lipoprotein lipase
- Transported to hepatocytes and recycled
- Used to produce more lipoproteins
What is the role of cholesterol?
Forms part of cell membranes, steroid hormones and bile
What is the role of HDLs?
- Provide proteins for production of lipoproteins
- Mop up excess cholesterol
- Taken up by liver and degraded for more lipoprotein production
- Excess cholesterol sent to gall bladder for bile production
What are glycogen and TAGs?
Storage molecules of glucose
What is lipogenesis?
The production of TAG using glucose
What is glycogenesis?
The production of glycogen using glucose
Where does lipogenesis occur?
- Cytoplasm
- Liver
- Adipose tissues
- Stored long term in adipose
When does lipogenesis occur?
In the absorptive state
Describe the process of lipogenesis
- Acetyl CoA to malonyl CoA by acetyl CoA carboxylase
- ACA and MCA used by fatty acid sunthase to produce faty acid palmitate
- 2 key moieties in fatty acid synthase = beta-ketoacyl and ACP
- ACA bound to ACP (2 carbon)
- 2 carbon moiety trnasferred to beta-ketoacyl synthase
- ACP binds to MCA (3 carbon moiety)
- beta-ketoacyl synthase transfers 2 carbons from ACA to ACP, releases CO2
- Gives 4 carbon structure
- Reduced using NADPH
- Back to bKA part of enzyme
- ACP takes up 3 carbons from MCA
- Continues cycle
- Each cycle adds 2 carbons to chain
- 16 carbon structure, hydrolysed away from enzyme = palmitate
Describe the citrate-pyruvate shuttle in lipogenesis
- ACA substrate
- ACA produced in mitochondria
- ACA converted to citrate, can be transported out
- Increased cytoplasmic citrate
- Converted back to ACA and oxaloacetate
- ACA used in fatty acid synthesis
- Oxaloacetate converted to malate and pyruvate
- Transfers H from NADH to NADP
- Pyruvate taken back to mitochondria
- 2NADH needed per ACA for reduction step
- Half reducing potential provided by oxaloacetate release
- Half released by pentose phosphate pathway
Describe the pentose phosphate pathway
- Glucose to glucose-6-phosphate
- Using 2 NADP and 1H2O
- Produce ribose-5-phosphate and 2NADPH, 2H+ adn 1CO2
- Ribose-5-phosphate goes on to inter-conversion of sugars
Give a summarised pathway for TAG synthesis
- Glucose to pyruvate by glycolysis
- Pyruvate to Acetyl CoA by pyruvate dehydrogenase
- Acetyl CoA to malonyl CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase
- Malonyl-CoA to fatty acids using NADPH
- Fatty acids to TAG using acyl transferase and glycerol-3-phosphate
Describe the structure of glycogen
- Granules form around glycogenin protein
- Long chains of glucose polymers attach to this protein
- Branched chains by alpha 1,6-linkages
- Straight chains by alpha 1,4 - linkages
Describe glycogenesis
- Glucose enters liver and skeletal muscle cells
- Converted to glucose-6-phosphate by hexokinase in most tissues, glucokinase in liver
- Converted to glucose-1-phosphate by phosphoryl group switching to C1 on ring
- G1P reacts with uriding triphosphate to form UDPG (active form of glucose)
- UDPG added to growing chain by glycogen synthase
- Once chain has 11 glucose molecules, brnaching enzyme trnasfers some units to other chains
What is the most important controlling enzyme of glycogenesis?
Glycogen synthase
Why are VFAs used as energy sources in ruminants?
VFAs produced by microorganisms metabolising carbohydrates
What are the VFAs called?
- Acetate
- Butyrate
- Proprionate
Describe the VFA metabolism of acetate
- 2 carbons
- Converted to acetyl CoA
- Use this to produce energy via TCA cycle or oxidative phosphorylation
- Acetyl CoA produced in cytoplasm, transported into mitochondria
- Released in mitochondria for use in TCA cycle
- Excess acetyl CoA converted to fatty acids and triglycerides
- Stored in adipose tissue
Describe the metabolism of butyrate
- 4 carbon structure
- Converted to beta-3-hydroxybutyrate
- This is converted to acetoacetyl-CoA and then 2 acetyl-CoA molecules
- Can be used in TCA cycle
- Each molecule of butyrate can produce 25 ATP molecules
- Excess ACA converted to TAG and stored in adipose tissue
Describe the metabolism of proprionate
- 3 carbon structure
- 2 metabolic fate
- Each molecule can produce 18 ATPs
- Different fates in most tissues compared to liver
- For both pathways is converted to succinyl CoA
Describe the metabolism of proprionate in the liver
- 2 propionates used to produce 2 succinyl CoAs
- These converted to 2 phosphoenolpyruvates
- These used to produce 1 glucose molecule
- Can either go into energy stores or glycolysis/TCA/oxidative phosporylation
- ## The net gain for this is 17 ATP
Describe the metabolism of proprionate in most tissues
- 1 proprionate converted to 1 succinyl CoA
- Can go direct to TCA/oxidative phosphorylation
- Succinyl CoA converted to pyruvate
- Pyruvate converted to Acetyl CoA
- ACA into energy stores or TCA/oxidative phosphorylation
- Net gain 18 ATP
What are the fates of amino acid in metabolism?
- Energy sources
- Production of proteins
- Excreted if in excess
What are the fates of ketoacids?
- Direct production of energy
- In absorpive state in non-ruminants used to produce fatty acids to be laid down in adipose tissue as fat
- In ruminant converted to glucose in gluconeogenesis
What are the 2 types of amino acid?
- Glucogenic
- Ketogenic
Describe amino acid metabolism
- Excess AAs in liver deaminated to ketoacids, ammonia produced and excreted in urea
- Some AAs broken down to 2 moieties
- One can form acetyl-CoA (ketogenic)
- Other can form glucose (glucogenic)
What is the fate of glucogenic AAs?
- Potential to metabolised to glucose
- Broken down to pyruvate or citric acid cycle component
- Converted via gluconeogenesis to glucose
What is the fate of ketogenic AAs?
- Potential to be metabolised to acetylCoA
- ACA then oxidised to form energy in TCA, or converted to FFAs and laid down as TAG in adipose tissue
Describe the deamination of an amino acid (alanine)
- Combines with alpha-ketoglutarate (ketoacid)
- Transamination catalysed by alanine aminotransferase
- Ketoacid produced from alanine => pyruvate
- Amino acid produced from alpa-ketoglutarate => glutamate
- Glutamate back to alpha-ketoglutarate by glutamate dehydrogenase
- Produces ammonia, excreted in urea
- End products are pyruvate and ammonia
- Pyruvate converted as normal
Describe what happens in the post-absorptive state
- 2-3 hours after last meal
- No absorption of nutrients, still has energy requirements
- Energy from breakdown of macromolecules produced in absorptive state
- 3 main methods of maintaining glucose levels in plasma
- Mobilisation of glycogen from liver sources (glycogenolysis)
- Synthesise glucose in liver (gluconeogenesis)
- Utilise lipids as energy source (lipolysis)
Describe the process of glycogenolysis
- In skeletal muscles and liver
- Breakdown of glycogen to produce glucose
- Glucose-1-phosphate cleaved from chain using Pi and catalysted by glycogen phosphorylase (non-reducing end)
- G1P to G6p by phosphoglucomutase
- G6P undergoes glycolysis in muscle tissue
- G6P used in liver and kidney to produce glucose directly
- Catalysed by glucose-6-phosphatase
What is the controlling enzyme of glycogenolysis?
Glycogen phosphorylase