A Family Took Their Newborn to the Doctor

A family took their newborn to the doctor. They were worried something was wrong because the baby seemed to be in constant pain. After medical tests revealed the baby had large amounts of lactic acid accumulating in his muscle cells, doctors diagnosed the child with a rare disease in which mitochondria are missing from skeletal muscle cells. How might the lack of mitochondria explain the large amounts of lactic acid in the baby's muscle cells?

A) Without mitochondria, the muscle cells are going through fermentation to produce energy. This leads to an accumulation of lactic acid.
B) Without mitochondria, the muscle cells use fats and proteins rather than carbohydrates to generate energy. The breakdown products from the fat and proteins leads to an accumulation of lactic acid.
C) Because of the lack of mitochondria, the muscle cells require extremely high levels of oxygen to function. This additional oxygen requires lactic acid to produce energy.
D) Without the mitochondria, the muscle cells cannot split glucose into pyruvate. As the glucose accumulates in the cell it is converted into lactic acid.
E) In the absence of mitochondria, the muscle cells spend too much in the citric acid cycle. This results in a buildup of NADH and FADH ₂, which break down into lactic acid if they are unable to proceed to the electron transport chain.