What is the process that occurs after exercise that allows muscles to recover after e

Well either lactate is oxidised back to pyruvate which can then enter the TCA cycle, or lactate is used as a substrate for gluconeogenesis in the liver, which produces glucose and releases it into the blood where it can then be taken up again by active muscles and along with the breakdown of intramuscular glycogen --> glucose, this glucose is then used to continue respiration (Cori Cycle)

Thank you, although it is a little complicated as I don't really know what the TCA cycle is - I'm at GCSE level. Could you maybe tell me what that is? And what is pyruvate?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Pyruvate is the end product of glycolysis/glucose breakdown (which occurs in the cell cytosol). If oxygen is present pyruvate is decarboxylated to Acetyl CoA and enters the Krebs cycle (also called TCA cycle), where some ATP is directly produced and the electron carriers NADH and FADH2 are generated for oxidative phosphorylation, the final step of aerobic respiration which produces high quantity of ATP for cellular functions. im assuming you've studied the krebs cycle? it usually comes up at gcse level

If oxygen isn't present in sufficient quantities (anaerobic respiration), pyruvate is reduced to lactate/lactic acid, this generates small amounts of ATP in itself for short term use in muscle cells. post-exercise, the lactate is either oxidised back to pyruvate, or is transported to the liver where it enters a pathway called gluconeogenesis, which produces glucose

Glycogen --> Glucose --> Pyruvate --(anaerobic)-->Lactate

And the reverse of the above happens after the exercise

I haven't studied the Krebs Cycle yet, but I know of respiration - glycolysis, Krebs cycle, electrons (something) - through reading. I know what's involved in each step briefly, but not in much detail, although I find glycolysis very interesting.

Thank you very much. So, in a nutshell, after you exercise, the lactic acid (can I refer to it as lactic acid or shall I say lactate?) is oxidised where it is converted back into glycogen, which is stored in the liver.

Also, this helps muscles recover because it gets rid of the lactic acid...?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Lactate/lactic acid are the same thing, lactic acid is just the ionised/deprotonated form

Basically after exercise, the lactate is always converted back into pyruvate. But from here, the pyruvate either just enters the Krebs cycle for aerobic resp, or in the case of liver gluconeogenesis the pyruvate is converted all the way back into glucose, and the glucose can either be released into the bloodstream or stored as glycogen (isn't really important, all that matters is that glucose is produced). That's essentially how it's eliminated from the muscles and yep that's one of the ways in which they recover after exercise