Integration of Metabolism Flashcards
learning objectives integration of metabolism
- To compare and contrast the regulation of overall human metabolism with respect to carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism and identify key molecules that act as junction points.
- To summarize how different tissues/organs (e.g., liver, adipose tissue, brain, heart, and skeletal muscle) are adapted to their unique metabolic needs.
- To compare and contrast the three systems of ATP generation and describe the temporal utilization of each: phosphagen, glycolysis and aerobic respiration.
- To evaluate the role of hormones in inducing satiety signals.
- To compare and contrast the role of various metabolic systems in fed, fasting, and starvation models, including the effects of hormones (insulin, glucagon, and epinephrine) in these pathways.
- Analyze the concept of energy homeostasis with special focus on AMP kinase (energy sensor)
What are the major pathways of metabolism?
- Glycolysis
- Citric Acid Cycle
- Oxidative Phosphorylation
- Gluconeogenesis
- Pentose Phosphate Pathway
- Glycogen Metabolism
- Fatty Acid Metabolism
- Amino Acid Metabolism
- Nucleotide Metabolism
What are the THREE key molecules that act as metabolic junction points?
- Glucose-6-phosphate (can turn into Glucose, Glycogen, Pyruvate, Ribose-5-P)
- Pyruvate (can turn into Acetyl-CoA, Lactate, Alanine, OAA)
- Acetyl-CoA (can turn into CO2, Fatty Acids, Ketone bodies)
Tissues/Organs Are Specialized graphic

Metabolic Interrelations graphic

Whis is the Liver the ‘MVP of Metabolism’?
- Liver receives blood from enteric circulation (via portal vein) and from periphery (via hepatic artery).
- Processes most incoming nutrients
- Responds quickly to dietary conditions
- Maintains constant concentrations of nutrients in blood regardless of food intake
- Synthesizes and secretes proteins (plasma proteins, antibodies, acute phase proteins)
- Processes and detoxifies toxins and waste products
- Primarily depends on β-oxidation of fatty acids for its own energy needs.
Why is Adipose ‘The Main Assist’?
- Synthesizes and stores triacylglycerols (TAGs) as signaled by insulin (fed state)
- Uses fatty acids (from chylomicrons and VLDL) to make TAGs
- Uses glucose from blood to make TAGs
- Degrades TAGs and releases fatty acids and glycerol for other tissues to use as signaled by glucagon/epinephrine (hunger, exercise)
What are the two types of adipose tissues?
- White adipose and brown adipose tissue
- White fat is accumulated fat from surplus calories
-Subcutaneous, large effect on hormone regulation
•Brown fat has high levels of thermogenin
-Burn calories and generates heat (the “good” fat)
Brown fat: smaller, oily droplets. Contain mitochondria
white fat: Large oily droplets

Why is the brain ‘an Energy Consumer?’
- High dependence on blood glucose
- Uses 20% of total O2 consumed by resting human (although only 2% of body mass)
- Some glycogen in astrocytes. Breaks down to release glucose which can be used by neurons.
- Lactate released from astrocytes used as well
- During starvation switches to metabolism of ketone bodies for energy needs
- Metabolized by TCA cycle
- Prevents protein breakdown for energy purposes
- Uses amino acids for synthetic purposes – make neurotransmitters and peptide hormones
- Glucose transported into brain by GLUT3 (has a very low Km for glucose, meaning that the glucose is almost always saturated).
- Fatty acids do not serve as a fuel source since they are bound to albumin in the plasma and cannot cross the blood brain barrier

Astrocyte - Neuron Lactate Shuttle graphic

What does metabolism in the heart look like?
- Cardiac muscle is exclusively aerobic as evidenced by the density of mitochondria in heart muscle.
- Complete oxidation of glucose via TCA cycle and OxPhos and beta oxidation of fatty acids serve as major fuel.
- Also uses ketone bodies. Heart muscle consumes acetoacetate in preference to glucose.
- Also uses amino acids (particularly branched chain amino acids)
- The heart has virtually no glycogen reserves.
- Lack of O2 leads to tissue death (myocardial infarction)
- Heart muscle functions almost exclusively aerobically
- Heart muscle consumes other TCA derivatives (acetoacetate) in preference to glucose.

Why is skeletal muscle ‘The Consumer”?
- Rich in glycogen (contains 75% of the body’s glycogen stores).
- Glycogen readily broken down to G-6-P. Used by the muscle for glycolysis.
- Lacks glucose 6-phosphatase, so muscle retains glucose, its preferred fuel for bursts of activity.
- Also uses fatty acids and ketone bodies for energy
energy systems graphic

What are the types of fuel sources by INCREASING speed and DECREASING total energy production?
•Phosphagen: regeneration of ATP by phosphocreatine
-Phosphocreatine kinase
- Generation of ATP by glycolysis and glycogenolysis
- Generation of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism
What is the phospagen system?
- Short bursts of heavy activity; i.e. sprinting
- Quick exhaustion of ATP stores (within 1-2 sec.)
- Replenished by metabolism of phosphocreatine (within 5-6 sec.)
‒Stored in muscle to quickly regenerate ATP from ADP

What is anaerobic glycolysis?
- Further intense activity (past the ATP-PC phase), ~30 seconds
- Oxidation of free blood glucose or glycogen (glycogenolysis)
- Next, formation of lactate
- Glycogen —> G-6P —> pyruvate à lactate
- Causes decrease in power and muscle fatigue
- Must shift to a longer, more sustainable energy production system
- In the Cori cycle, the lactate formed flows to the liver, where it is converted into glucose; shifts part of the metabolic burden of muscle to the liver.
What is the fate of lactate in the cori cycle?
- Cori cycle: cooperation between muscle and liver
- Regenerate glucose from lactate

What is oxidative phosphorylation?
- Metabolic processes result in the reduction of co-enzymes (i.e. formation of NADH and FADH2)
- OXPHOS: Production of energy from the oxidation of NADH and FADH2 (2.5 and 1.5 ATP, respectively)
- Pumping protons out of the mitochondrial matrix
–Builds proton concentration in the intermembrane space
- Produces ATP via ATP synthase
- Previously discussed metabolic processes result in the reduction of co-enzymes
- Oxidative phosphorylation uses these reduced co-enzymes and reduces them to generate large amounts of energy
- Shuffling electrons, hence the phrase electron transport chain
- Production of free protons that are pumped out of the mitochondrial matrix and used to for ATP
The fed state graphic

What happens in the liver during the fed state?
- Glycolysis
- Glycogen synthesis
- TG synthesis
The Fasting State graphic

What happens in the liver during the fasting state?
- Glycogenolysis
- Gluconeogenesis
- Fatty Acid Oxidation
- Ketone Body Formation

Starvation prolong fasting state graphic

What happens with insulin during high blood glucose?
- Fed state —> high blood glucose —> insulin
- Insulin deficiency or resistance can lead to hyperglycemia, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes
Insulin —> fed —> excess glucose






