Question

1. Name the major pathways found in adipose tissue, muscle tissues and brain.  What fuels are utilized by skeletal and heart tissue under low and high blood sugar? What fuels do the brain utilize?

2. Describe how the Cori Cycle connects the muscle and liver and why this is important.

Answer 1

1) The major pathways in adipose tissue are : adipogenesis, lipogenesis, Fatty acid oxidation and lipolysis
The major pathways in muscle tissues are : Glycolysis, TCA cycle, lactic acid fermentation, glucose-alanine cycle
The major pathways in brain are : TCA cycle, fatty acid oxidation
Under low blood sugar levels, the skeletal and heart tissue utilises the fatty acids and glycerols for their metabolic pathways. And under high blood sugar level, they utilise gluocose. The brain also like other tissues utilize the glucose for production.

2)

In animals, lactate formed in the muscles is recycled to glucose in the liver. Lactate produced in msucle is transported from the muscle to the liver, where it is repxidezed by liver LDH to pyruvate. By process of gluconeogenesis, pyruvate is finally converted to glucose in the liver. Liver again exports glucose to muscle for glycolysis. This cycle is referred as the Cori cycle.
The Cori cycle prevents lactic acidiosis and also helos regulate the oxygen binding ability in the RBCs.