The Biology Project: Biochemistry

Metabolism Problem Set

Problem 15 Tutorial: Metabolism During Heart Attack

During a heart attack, blood flowing to the heart muscle is interrupted by blockage of a coronary artery. How would you expect the metabolism in the heart to change?:

Effects of a heart attack on heart metabolism

Reducing blood flow to the heart restricts oxygen delivery. This slows oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria requiring the cell to resort to fermentation, producing lactic acid to regenerate NAD+ for glycolysis. Since glycolysis can only product ATP, the amount of glucose needed for energy increases exhausting stores of glycogen. Water is produced when oxygen serves as the terminal electron acceptor. Thus, without oxygen the production of water from electron transport is severely inhibited.


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Tuesday, August 20, 1996
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