Stoffwechsel

Wie der Körper Nahrung in Energie, Bausteine und Signale umwandelt.

1. Cholesterin

   Wie menschliche Zellen Cholesterin bilden, erfassen, aufnehmen und beseitigen – vom Mevalonatweg über den LDL-Rezeptor und PCSK9 bis zu den Gallensäuren.

2. Aminosäuren und Stickstoff

   Wie Nahrungseiweiß verdaut und aufgenommen wird, wie Aminogruppen Transaminierung und Harnstoffzyklus durchlaufen und was sich an der Phenylketonurie zeigt.

3. Folat, Vitamin B12 und C1-Stoffwechsel

   Wie Folat und Vitamin B12 einzelne Kohlenstoffatome auf DNA-Basen und Methionin übertragen und warum ein Mangel an einem davon megaloblastäre Anämie verursacht.

Auf Englisch verfügbar

1. Energy and ATP

   How cells couple reactions to ATP, pass electrons to NAD+, FAD and NADP+, make ATP from a proton gradient and use energy organ by organ.

2. Glucose

   How glucose is absorbed and enters cells, and how glycolysis, pyruvate dehydrogenase, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation make ATP from it.

3. Fed and fasting

   How insulin and glucagon switch the body between storing and releasing fuel, from glycogen to gluconeogenesis, ketone bodies and the course of a fast.

4. Fats

   How the body digests fat, carries it in lipoproteins, burns and makes fatty acids, and why linoleic and α-linolenic acid must come from food.

5. How the body processes medicines

   First-pass metabolism, the cytochrome P450 enzymes, conjugation, drug transporters, induction and inhibition, and the inherited differences behind them.

6. From genes to proteins

   How DNA encodes proteins, how genes are transcribed, spliced and translated, and how variants in PAH, HBB, LDLR, ALDH2 and LCT change traits.

7. The cell and its compartments

   How membranes, pumps and organelles divide the chemistry of a human cell, and how insulin at the cell surface changes which genes are transcribed.

8. Vitamins as cofactors

   How B vitamins and vitamins C and K serve human enzymes as cofactors, which diseases their lack causes, and what supplement trials in adults found.

9. Hormones and signalling

   How insulin, glucagon, adrenaline, cortisol, thyroid hormones, leptin, ghrelin and GLP-1 act on receptors and second messengers, and how feedback limits them.