Respiratory substrates

■ Glucose is the essential respiratory substrate for some cells

■ Other cells can oxidize lipids & amino acids.

When lipids are respired: Energy values of respiratory substrate

■Carbon atoms are removed in

pairs, as acetyl coenzyme A,
from the fatty acid chains & fed
into the Krebs cycle.

The greater the number of hydrogens in the The energy value of a substrate is determined
structure
Most of energy
of the the substrate molecule,
liberated therespiration
in aerobic greater by burning a known mass of the substrate in
the energy
comes fromvalue .
the oxidation of hydrogen to water oxygen in a calorimeter.
when reduced NAD & reduced FAD are passed to
Whyelectron
the lipids provide higher
transport energy than proteins
chain.
& carbohydrates?
Fatty acids have more hydrogens per molecule
than carbohydrates & proteins do. So, lipids
have a greater energy value per unit mass.

Lipid has higher energy density than

carbohydrates & proteins

Respiratory quotient (RQ)

In the overall equation for the aerobic respiration of glucose,
volumes of oxygen used & CO2 produced are the same
C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 +
6H2O + energy

The ratio of oxygen taken in & CO2 released is 1:1. When other substrates are respired, the ratio given is differed.

Volume of CO 2 given out ∈unit time

RQ=
Volume of O2 taken∈¿ unit time

What happens when respiration

is not aerobic?

In alcoholic fermentation of glucose:

C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH +
2CO2 + energy
 High values of RQ indicate that alcoholic
In reality, some respiration in the yeast cell will CO 2 2
RQ= = =∞ fermentation is occurring.
be aerobic & so a small volume of oxygen will O2 0
be taken up & the RQ will be less than infinity.

In lactate fermentation of glucose:

Glucose (C6H12O6) → 2 Lactic acid (C3H6O3) + energy

In animals, lactate fermentation does not produce CO2 or consume O2.

Note that no RQ can be calculated for CO 2 0 During anaerobic respiration in animals, RQ value is
RQ= = =0
muscle cells using the lactate pathway, as O2 0 equals to 0.
no CO2 is produced. As in animal cells, dehydrogenation & decarboxylation do
not happen.