Adrenal tissue pentose phosphate pathway

Some mammalian cells have the ability to metabolize glucose 6-phosphate in a pathway that involves the production of C3, C4, C5, C6, and C7 sugars. This process also yields the reduced coenzyme, NADPH, which is oxidized in the biosynthesis of fatty acids and steroids (Chap. 13). Consequently, this metabolic pathway is of major importance in those cells involved in fatty acid and steroid production, such as the liver, lactating mammary gland, adrenal cortex, and adipose tissue. The pentose phosphate pathway, which does not require oxygen and which occurs in the cytoplasm of these cells, has two other names the phosphogluconate pathway (after the first product in the pathway) and the hexose monophosphate shunt (since the end products of the pathway can reenter glycolysis). 

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