Our poster at the Banff Ketogenic Therapy Conference

Explaining the diagram, Part II. GLYCOLYSIS glucose ---------> pyruvate. Pyruvate can be converted to many things. Some cells -- many bacteria and other microorganisms, rapidly exercising muscle cells and red blood cells -- use only glycolysis for energy. Those cells convert pyruvate to other things like alcohol or lactic acid (fermenting bacteria produce ethanol and lactic acid bacteria are the cultures in yoghurt). Such cells are said to have an anaerobic energy metabolism because glycolysis does not require oxygen. Looking ahead, many cancer cells are said to be "glycolytic" because they only use glycolysis even in the presence of oxygen while the normal cells from which they derive run glycolysis but further process the glycolysis using oxygen. Of importance, the Warburg effect refers to Otto Warburg's observation that cancer cells were producing lactic acid. One of the products that aerobic (oxygen-requiring) cells produce is acetyl-CoA. (You can just remember it as a name or, if you took freshman chemistry, you may recognize it as a derivative of acetic acid). Acetyl-CoA is the substrate for oxidative metabolism. A combination of processes (Krebs cycle, electron transport) referred to as respiration is where most energy is obtained in most human cells and requires oxygen. Details of respiration to be discussed in part III but the take-home message here is that the compound acetyl-CoA is the big player in oxidative metabolism. It is not only produced from glycolysis but also (primarily if you are on a low-carb diet) from fat in a process called beta-oxidation, and also from some amino acids from protein. Ketone bodies also produce acetyl-CoA. Ketone bodies are made in the liver and provide acetyl-CoA to other tissues. Part III will explain why and how. Figure summarizing info so far: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37202414/EXPERIMENT-II_SEPT_23.png

The diagram was, of course, technical, but I think the take home message is important so I will give a basic explanation (Biochemistry 101). There are chemical names but I don't discuss the chemistry so you can just learn them as names. Part I. All cells, all organisms, use the same mechanism to process glucose. The process is called glycolysis. The name tells you that it is the lysis (breaking) of glucose. Glucose is a six carbon compound and the lysis gives you two molecules of a three carbon compound called pyruvic acid. (In biochemistry acids are indiscriminately called by the acid name or by an "ate" name. "Pyruvate" and "pyruvic acid" are two names for the same molecule.) so: glucose ---------> pyruvate is the process of glycolysis ( although it has many steps). Part II when i get to real computer.

Very important work!