Metabolism
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Poisoned by unripe ackee fruit
Key points from this exercise:
The brain is more or less completely reliant on glucose as its metabolic fuel, except in prolonged starvation, and it accounts for about 20% of whole body resting energy expenditure. Most of this energy expenditure is involved in transporting sodium and potassium ions across nerve membranes, against their concentration gradient, to maintain electrical activity.
ATP is involved in three main areas:
active transport of ions (and metabolites) against their concentration gradient
forcing endothermic reactions in the thermodynamically unfavoured direction
providing the driving force for muscle contraction
Coenzyme A is involved in metabolism as a carrier of fatty acids, forming fatty acyl CoA thioesters
Like other coenzymes, coenzyme A is present in very small amounts in the cell, but turns over rapidly
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