Biochemical Foundations of Human Vital Activity - Volkov, N.I., Nesen, E.N. 2000

Biochemical Foundations of Human Vital Activity
Metabolism in the Body
Regulation of Metabolism

Thanks to METABOLISM, Cells in the Organism function with the minimal expenditure of energy and matter. This is achieved through the balanced operation of regulatory systems within intracellular metabolism, such as intracellular, hormonal, and neural regulation.

Intracellular regulatory mechanisms affect enzyme activity and their synthesis (quantity). Regulatory effects can be exerted by the End products of a reaction, individual metabolites, and energy substrates. They either activate or inhibit enzyme activity, which alters The rate of individual biochemical reactions or the entire metabolic pathway. For example, the rate of ATP formation in Cell/35.html">Mitochondria is regulated by the level of its concentration in The Cell.

Hormonal REGULATION OF METABOLISM is carried out by specific substances—Hormones (see Chapter 7). Hormones regulate intracellular metabolism via secondary messengers, such as Cyclic NUCLEOTIDES and Calcium Ions, as well as through receptor Proteins, among others. Changes in their content within the cell also affect the rate of metabolism.

The Nervous system coordinates and integrates all links of metabolism by acting upon the aforementioned regulatory systems.

During the body's adaptation to muscular activity, The regulatory mechanisms of metabolism are refined, which forms the basis for increasing the efficiency of performance. The issues of integration and REGULATION OF CARBOHYDRATE, fat, and Protein metabolism are further discussed in Chapter 13.

Review Questions

1. What is meant by metabolism? What is its significance in the vital activity of the organism?

2. What is The Essence and significance of anabolism and Catabolism?

3. How do the rates of anabolic and catabolic reactions change during different periods of a person's life and during muscular activity?

4. What metabolic processes underlie The phenomenon of supercompensation in the body after physical exertion?

5. Name the main Types of Metabolism.

6. WHAT IS A metabolic pathway? What central Metabolic Pathways in the organism do you know?

7. How does the catabolism of nutrients proceed in the cell?

8. What is The Role of acetyl-CoA in the breakdown reactions of nutrients?

9. In which cell structures do the processes of Protein Synthesis, nucleic acid Biosynthesis, and ATP formation take place?

10. What is the role of The cell membrane and reticulum in the functional activity of the cell?

11. What mechanisms of Metabolic Regulation do you know?



Last update: 06/08/2026

Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.

What was processed:

  • elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
  • editorial organization of content;
  • standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
  • verification of factual statements against the original source text.

All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.