KIVO Med
Gluconeogenesis: making glucose when it is needed
Understand precursors, glycolytic bypasses, energetic cost, inter-organ cycles, and regulation of gluconeogenesis.
- 43 explained questions
- 24 flashcards
- 157 estimated course minutes
Updated
What you will learn
- Explain why the liver and kidney make glucose from non-carbohydrate precursors.
- Describe the three bypasses around the irreversible steps of glycolysis.
- Relate pyruvate, lactate, alanine, gluconeogenic amino acids, and glycerol to entry points.
- Calculate the energetic balance for making one glucose from two pyruvates.
- Predict the effects of glucagon, insulin, acetyl-CoA, ATP, citrate, and fructose-2,6-bisphosphate.
Course outline
Why rebuild glucose?
When intake and glycogen no longer suffice, liver and kidney synthesize glucose from non-carbohydrate precursors.
16 min
Share reversible reactions, bypass three gates
Gluconeogenesis reverses glycolysis’s reversible steps but replaces each of its three irreversible reactions.
18 min
From pyruvate to phosphoenolpyruvate
The first bypass combines carboxylation, the malate shuttle, and phosphorylating decarboxylation across mitochondria and cytosol.
22 min
From PEP to glucose-6-phosphate
Reversible reactions take PEP back to F1,6BP before fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase crosses the second gate.
19 min
From glucose-6-phosphate to glucose: pathway cost
The final bypass occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum, after which the balance gathers every expenditure required to synthesize one glucose.
20 min
Entry points and inter-organ cycles
Lactate, alanine, gluconeogenic amino acids, and glycerol enter at different intermediates and connect producing tissues with the liver.
24 min
Hormonal and allosteric regulation
Hormones indicate whether glucose should be produced or used, while allosteric effectors report the cell’s energy state.
23 min
Gluconeogenesis and glycolysis: mirror pathways
The final comparison connects flow direction, compartments, specific enzymes, energy balance, and reciprocal regulation.
15 min
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Glycolysis: from glucose to pyruvate
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Fructose and galactose: entry routes, crossroads, and enzyme defects
Two hexoses enter energy metabolism through distinct steps, with clinically important points of failure.
Krebs cycle: oxidising acetyl-CoA and regenerating oxaloacetate
The citric acid cycle links aerobic acetyl-CoA oxidation to production of reduced coenzymes and biosynthetic intermediates.