Digestion, absorption and utilization of

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

 Introduction

Although carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can all be

degraded to release energy, carbohydrates are the
most readily used energy source.

We will begin by examining the oxidation of the hexose

glucose.

Any catabolic process must begin with a supply of

nutrients.

When we eat a meal, we are eating quantities of

carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
 Cont.

From this point the catabolic processes can be broken

down into a series of stages.
Stage I: Hydrolysis of Dietary
Macromolecules into Small Subunits
The purpose of the first stage of catabolism is to
degrade large food molecules into their component
subunits.

These subunits-simple sugars, amino acids, fatty

acids, and glycerol-are then taken into the cells of the
body for use as an energy source.
 Cont.

Polysaccharides are hydrolyzed to monosaccharides.

This process begins in the mouth, where the enzyme

amylase begins the hydrolysis of starch.

Digestion continues in the small intestine, where

pancreatic amylase further hydrolyzes the starch into
maltose (a disaccharide of glucose).

Maltase catalyzes the hydrolysis of maltose,

producing two glucose molecules.
 Cont.

Similarly, sucrose is hydrolyzed to glucose and

fructose by the enzyme sucrase, and lactose (milk
sugar) is degraded into the monosaccharides glucose
and galactose by the enzyme lactase in the small
intestine.

The monosaccharides are taken up by the epithelial

cells of the intestine in an energy-requiring process
called active transport.
 Cont.

The digestion of proteins begins in the stomach, where

the low pH denatures the proteins so that they are
more easily hydrolyzed by the enzyme pepsin.

They are further degraded in the small intestine by

trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, and other proteases.

The products of protein digestion-amino acids and

Short oligopeptides-are taken up by the cells lining
the intestine.

This uptake also involves an active transport

mechanism.
 Cont.

Digestion of fats does not begin until the food reaches

the small intestine, even though there are lipases in
both the saliva and stomach fluid.

Fats arrive in the duodenum, the first portion of the

small intestine, in the form of large fat globules.

Bile salts produced by the liver break these up into an

emulsion of tiny fat droplets.

Because the small droplets have a greater surface

area, the lipids are now more accessible to the action
of pancreatic lipase.
 Cont.

This enzyme hydrolyzes the fats into fatty acids and

glycerol, which are taken up by intestinal cells by a
transport process that does not require energy.

This process is called passive transport.

Stage II: Conversion of Monomers into a
Form That Can Be Completely Oxidized
The monosaccharides, amino acids, fatty acids, and
glycerol must now be assimilated into the pathways of
energy metabolism.

The two major pathways are glycolysis and the citric

acid cycle.

Sugars usually enter the glycolysis pathway in the

form of glucose or fructose.
 Cont.

They are eventually converted to acetyl CoA, which is a

form that can be completely oxidized in the citric acid
cycle.

Amino groups are removed from amino acids, and the

remaining carbon skeletons enter the catabolic
processes at many steps of the citric acid cycle.

Fatty acids are converted to acetyl CoA and enter the

citric acid cycle in that form.
 Cont.

Glycerol, produced by the hydrolysis of fats, is

converted to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, one of the
intermediates of glycolysis, and enters energy
metabolism at that level.
A summary of the hydrolysis reactions of
carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
Many Adults Are Intolerant of Milk
What happens to the lactose in the intestine of a lactase-deficient
person?
Cont.
Galactose

Galactose is one of the

components of lactose, or milk
sugar.
 Cont.

Both galactosemia and lactose

intolerance are treated by removing
milk and milk products from the diet.

Explain the difference between these

two conditions.
Cont.
Digestion and Absorption of Proteins
Hydrolysis of dietary proteins.
The Urea Cycle
Cont.
Stage III: The Complete Oxidation of
Nutrients and the Production of ATP
Acetyl CoA carries acetyl groups, two-carbon remnants
of the nutrients, to the citric acid cycle.

Acetyl CoA enters the cycle, and electrons and

hydrogen atoms are harvested during the complete
oxidation of the acetyl group to CO2 .

Coenzyme A is released (recycled) to carry additional

acetyl groups to the pathway.

The electrons and hydrogen atoms that are harvested

are used in the process of oxidative phosphorylation to
produce ATP.
Briefly describe the three stages of catabolism.

Discuss the digestion of dietary carbohydrates, lipids,

and proteins.
 Digestion of Carbohydtrates

Carbohydrates rich diet (Starch) contain amylose and amylopectin

Salivary and Pancreatic amylase

Smaller polysaccharide (Dextrin)

Disaccharide

Monosaccharide

Absorption
Structure of Dietary Starch
Disaccharides
Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis, and the
Pentose Phosphate Pathway
The structure of acetyl CoA. The bond between
the acetyl group and coenzyme A is a high-energy
thioester bond.
Conversion of Pyruvate to Acetyl CoA
The central role of acetyl CoA in cellular metabolism.
The Citric Acid Cycle (The Krebs Cycle)
Succinyl CoA
Condensation reaction

Oxidoreduction

Oxidoreduction
Oxido-reduction
 Lipid Metabolism in Animals

Digestion and Absorption of Dietary Triglycerides:

Triglycerides are highly hydrophobic (“water fearing”).

Because of this they must be processed before they

can be digested, absorbed, and metabolized.

Because processing of dietary lipids occurs in the

small intestine, the water soluble lipases, enzymes that
hydrolyze triglycerides, that are found in the stomach
and in the saliva are not very effective.
 Cont.

In fact, most dietary fat arrives in the duodenum, the

first part of the small intestine, in the form of fat
globules.

These fat globules stimulate the secretion of bile from

the gallbladder.

Bile is composed of micelles of lecithin, cholesterol,

protein, bile salts, inorganic ions, and bile pigments.

Micelles are aggregations of molecules having a polar

region and a nonpolar region.
 Cont.

The nonpolar ends of bile salts tend to bunch together

when placed in water.

The hydrophilic (“water loving”) regions of these

molecules interact with water.

Bile salts are made in the liver and stored in the

gallbladder, awaiting the stimulus to be secreted into
the duodenum.

The major bile salts in humans are cholate and

chenodeoxycholate.
The structure of a micelle formed from the phospholipid lecithin.
The straight lines represent the long hydrophobic fatty acid tails,
and the spheres represent the hydrophilic heads of the
phospholipid.
 Cont.

Structures of the most common bile acids in human bile: cholate

and chenodeoxycholate.
Cont.
Cont.
Cont.
 Cont.

Cholesterol is almost completely insoluble in water,

but the conversion of cholesterol to bile salts creates
detergents whose polar heads make them soluble in
the aqueous phase and whose hydrophobic tails bind
triglycerides.

After a meal is eaten, bile flows through the common

bile duct into the duodenum, where bile salts emulsify
the fat globules into tiny droplets.

This increases the surface area of the lipid molecules,

allowing them to be more easily hydrolyzed by lipases.
 Cont.

Much of the lipid in these droplets is in the form of

triglycerides, or triacylglycerols, which are fatty acid
esters of glycerol.

A protein called colipase binds to the surface of the

lipid droplets and helps pancreatic lipases to stick to
the surface and hydrolyze the ester bonds between the
glycerol and fatty acids of the triglycerides.

In this process, two of the three fatty acids are

liberated, and the monoglycerides and free fatty acids
produced mix freely with the micelles of bile.
 Cont.

These micelles are readily absorbed through the

membranes of the intestinal epithelial cells.

Surprisingly, the monoglycerides and fatty acids are

then reassembled into triglycerides that are combined
with protein to produce the class of plasma
lipoproteins called chylomicrons .

These collections of lipid and protein are secreted into

small lymphatic vessels and eventually arrive in the
bloodstream.
 Cont.

In the bloodstream the triglycerides are once again

hydrolyzed to produce glycerol and free fatty acids that
are then absorbed by the cells.

If the body needs energy, these molecules are

degraded to produce ATP.

If the body does not need energy, these energy-rich

molecules are stored.
The action of pancreatic lipase in the H O hydrolysis of dietary lipids.
 Lipid Storage

Fatty acids are stored in the form of triglycerides.

Most of the body’s triglyceride molecules are stored as

fat droplets in the cytoplasm of adipocytes (fat cells)
that make up adipose tissue.

Each adipocyte contains a large fat droplet that

accounts for nearly the entire volume of the cell.

Other cells, such as those of cardiac muscle,

contain a few small fat droplets.
 Cont.

In these cells the fat droplets are surrounded by

mitochondria.

When the cells need energy, triglycerides are

hydrolyzed to release fatty acids that are transported
into the matrix space of the mitochondria.

There the fatty acids are completely oxidized, and ATP

is produced.

The fatty acids provided by the hydrolysis of

triglycerides are a very rich energy source for the
body.
 Cont.

The complete oxidation of fatty acids releases much

more energy than the oxidation of a comparable
amount of glycogen.
 Cont.

How do bile salts aid in the digestion of dietary lipids?

Why must dietary lipids be processed before

enzymatic
digestion can be effective?
Enterohepatic circulation of bile salts.
Fatty acid activation:
Transportation of Activated Fatty acid (Fatty acyl CoA):
The reactions in β-oxidation
of fatty acids.
The reactions in β-oxidation
of fatty acids.
How many molecules of ATP are produced in the
complete oxidation of stearic acid, an eighteen-carbon
saturated fatty acid?
Thank you
Thank You.