Question

1. Glucose is a necessary substrate for ATP production in many cells, particularly the neurons in the nervous system. Inability to maintain blood glucose between meals leads to feelings of fatigue. There are many steps in the extraction of energy from glucose for production of usable energy in a cell. Please discuss the extraction of energy from glucose by cells for both aerobic and anaerobic energy processes. Calculate the energy yield per molecule of glucose for each process (show your work).

2. Glucose is a necessary substrate for ATP production in many cells, particularly the neurons in the nervous system. Inability to maintain blood glucose concentrations between meals leads to fatigue. But it is also true that chronic excess blood glucose concentrations lead to increased risk of chronic disease that can significantly reduce the quality of life cause early mortality. Discuss the regulation of blood glucose in a healthy individual during one’s nightly sleep and then following breakfast.

Answer 1

During our sleep, glucose levels gradualy increases, by the time we are four or five hours into our sleep there is higher levels of glucose in blood, this is known as Dawn effect, this mainly happens because liver starts to convert glycogen, (which is a stored form of glucose) to glucose and releases into the blood, this causes the increased level of glucose, but this is not a problem in healthy individuuals, as in response to increased glucose level, pancreas release insulin, which will act reduce the levels of glucose by making the cells to better utilize the glucose, thereby maintaining normal glucose levels. but if you are suffering from diabetese than the insulin level is innsufficent, due to which there is increased level of glucose in blood..

Following breakfast, the level of glucose increases because the cardohydrates which we consume in the form of breakfast, gets digested and absorbed in the form of glucose, this glucose is released into the bloodstream, but in healthy individuals the pancreas will release insulin which will act on glucose molecules,to be transported into the cells, if there is any extra glucose it will be converted by the liver into glycogen and stored in liver, to be released when the body needs it., some extra glucose may be also transported to skeletal muscles and adipose tissues to be stored. Thus this homeostasis mechanism maintain normal blood glucose levels.