Metabolismo

Cómo el cuerpo convierte los alimentos en energía, componentes y señales.

1. Colesterol

   Cómo las células humanas fabrican, detectan, captan y eliminan el colesterol, de la vía del mevalonato al receptor de LDL, la PCSK9 y los ácidos biliares.

2. Aminoácidos y nitrógeno

   Cómo se digieren y absorben las proteínas de la dieta, cómo pasan los grupos amino por la transaminación y el ciclo de la urea, y qué revela la fenilcetonuria.

3. Folato, vitamina B12 y metabolismo monocarbonado

   Cómo el folato y la vitamina B12 ceden carbono, átomo a átomo, a las bases del ADN y a la metionina, y por qué la falta de uno solo causa anemia megaloblástica.

Disponible en inglés

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.