You are carrying out in vitro studies of skeletal muscle cell metabolism utilizing primary cultures of myocytes prepared from rectus femoris biopsies. Your studies involve the comparison of metabolic byproducts from carbohydrate metabolism under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. When your cell culture conditions allow for aerobic metabolism, which of the following compounds would be expected to be derived from any pyruvate generated from glycolysis?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Acetyl-CoA is the product of pyruvate dehydrogenase, which converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA in the presence of oxygen. Under aerobic conditions, glucose can be completely oxidized to CO₂ and H₂O following the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate into acetylCoA, which then enters the TCA cycle for further oxidation. Although oxaloacetate is an intermediate in the TCA cycle and its formation requires continued input of acetyl-CoA, the 2 carbon atoms of pyruvate-derived acetyl-CoA are lost as CO₂ prior to oxaloacetate.

You Are Carrying Out in Vitro Studies of Skeletal Muscle