Glucose oxidation refers to the immediate utilization of glucose in your body. When your body saves glucose for later use, non-oxidative glucose metabolism is involved. Exercising increases your body's non-oxidative glucose metabolism. Boosting this process in your body may be important for reducing risk for type 2 diabetes because it appears to improve insulin sensitivity.
Glycogen Synthesis
Non-oxidative glucose metabolism refers to your body's mechanism for converting and storing glucose for energy. The storage form of glucose is called glycogen. Glycogen synthesis accounts for about 90 percent of your non-oxidative glucose utilization. Most of the glycogen in your body is stored in your liver and muscle cells.
Significance
Defects in your body's oxidative and non-oxidative glucose metabolism are both indicated in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, or type 2 diabetes. Problems with non-oxidative glucose metabolism appear to be more significant than defects in oxidative glucose metabolism, according to "Insulin Resistance," by David Moller. In short, reduced glycogen synthesis is associated with type 2 diabetes. Obesity may be one cause of abnormalities in non-oxidative glucose metabolism, according to a 1998 "Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology" study.
Steps
There are three main steps in non-oxidative glucose metabolism. The first is glucose transport, in which glucose is brought to your cells. The second is phosphorylation, in which a phosphate is added to the glucose. This traps the glucose in your cells, committing it to further metabolism within the cells. The third is glycogen synthesis.
Considerations
Conversion of glucose to lactate also technically is quantified as non-oxidative glucose metabolism. Anaerobic glycolysis occurs when energy is required in oxygen's absence. In the final step of anaerobic glycolysis, pyruvate is formed. This pyruvate, in turn, forms into lactate or enters the cell's mitochondria and becomes part of the Kreb's cycle, which is part of aerobic metabolism.
References
- "Insulin Resistance"; David Moller; 1993
- "Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology"; Mechanisms of insulin resistance in non-oxidative glucose metabolism: the role of glycogen synthase; H. Beck-Nielsen, 1998
- University of California Muscle Physiology; Extracting Energy From Glucose; 2000
- "Skeletal Muscle"; Victor R. Preedy and Timothy J. Peters; 2002
- "Biochemistry"; Pamela C. Champe, et al.; 2005
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Glycogen Metabolsim; Joyce J. Diwan; 2007
