Metabolism energy charge system

Some specific solutes diffuse down electrochemical gradients across membranes more rapidly than might be expected from their size, charge, or partition coefficients. This facilitated diffusion exhibits properties distinct from those of simple diffusion. The rate of facilitated diffusion, a uniport system, can be saturated ie, the number of sites involved in diffusion of the specific solutes appears finite. Many facihtated diffusion systems are stereospecific but, fike simple diffusion, require no metabolic energy. 

An index of the phospho anhydride (i.e.,P—O—P) bond content of the adenine nucleotides of a cell, based on a hypothetical modeP that attempts to explain the metabolic basis for control of ATP utilization and regeneration. Later studies demonstrated that the energy charge model is overly simplistic and that its principles are unlikely to constitute a useful model for the control of energy metabolism within biological systems. 

This transfer of reducing equivalents is essential for maintaining the favorable NAD+/NADH ratio required for the oxidative metabolism of glucose and synthesis of glutamate in brain (McKenna et al., 2006). The malate-aspartate shuttle is considered the most important shuttle in brain. It is particularly important in neurons. It has low activity in astrocytes. This shuttle system is fully reversible and linked to amino acid metabolism with the energy charge and citric acid cycle of neuronal cells. 

The amount of metabolically-available energy which is momentarily stored in the adenylate system of a living cell is linearly related to the mole fraction of ATP plus half of the mole fraction of ADP. Expressed in terms of concentration of the nucleotides, this available energy is called the energy charge [26], which can be calculated from the following formula ... 

The effects of adenine nucleotides on metabolic regulatory systems are so widespread that Atkinson has introduced the concept of energy charge (E) which is defined as... 

Many of the simplest chemical reactions involve only an interchange of atoms or ions between reactants, or perhaps only the dissociation of one reactant into two parts. In such reactions, there is no change in the electrical charge of any of the atoms involved. This chapter deals with another type of reaction, in which one or more electrons are transferred between atoms, with the result that some of the atoms involved do have their electrical charges changed. These reactions are known as electron-transfer reactions. You can appreciate their importance when you realize that every battery used in electronic devices and machines, every impulse involved in nerve transmission, every metabolic reaction that produces energy in biological systems, photosynthesis, and combustion processes (to mention but a few examples) requires electron-transfer reactions. 

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