Buffers function, organ metabolism

Figure 8.29 The initial reactions of glutamine metabolism in kidney, intestine and cells of the immune system. The initial reaction in all these tissues is the same, glutamine conversion to glutamate catalysed by glutaminase the next reactions are different depending on the function of the tissue or organ. In the kidney, glutamate dehydrogenase produces ammonia to buffer protons. In the intestine, the transamination produces alanine for release and then uptake and formation of glucose in the liver. In the immune cells, transamination produces aspartate which is essential for synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides required for DNA synthesis otherwise it is released into the blood to be removed by the enterocytes in the small intestine or by cells in the liver.

The overall organization of topics is designed to lead the student logically through the biochemical organization of cells. Emphasis is placed on the structures and functions of the molecular components of cells and on metabolic controls. The text begins with a discussion of water, acids, bases, and buffers, amino acids, proteins, and thermodynamics (Chapters 1-5). This is fol-... 

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