Carbohydrate Metabolism - Metabolic Pathways

Metabolic Pathways

  • Carbon fixation, or photosynthesis, in which CO2 is reduced to carbohydrate.
  • Glycolysis - the oxidation metabolism of glucose molecules to obtain ATP and pyruvate
    • Pyruvate from glycolysis enters the Krebs cycle, also known as the citric acid cycle, in aerobic organisms after moving through pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
  • The pentose phosphate pathway, which acts in the conversion of hexoses into pentoses and in NADPH regeneration.
  • Glycogenesis - the conversion of excess glucose into glycogen as a cellular storage mechanism; this prevents excessive osmotic pressure buildup inside the cell
  • Glycogenolysis - the breakdown of glycogen into glucose, which provides a glucose supply for glucose-dependent tissues.
  • Gluconeogenesis - de novo synthesis of glucose molecules from simple organic compounds. an example in humans is the conversion of a few amino acids in cellular protein to glucose.

Metabolic use of glucose is highly important as an energy source for muscle cells and in the brain, and red blood cells.

Read more about this topic:  Carbohydrate Metabolism

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