Human Biochemistry, Volume 1 - Murray R. 1993

Bioenergetics and Metabolism of Carbohydrates and Lipids
Gluconeogenesis and the Pentose Phosphate Pathway
The Pentose Phosphate Pathway or Hexose Monophosphate Shunt - Introduction

The Pentose Phosphate Pathway is an alternative route for glucose oxidation. It involves several cycles resulting in the generation of three molecules of CO2 and three pentose molecules from three molecules of glucose-6-phosphate. The latter are utilized to regenerate two molecules of glucose-6-phosphate and one molecule of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. Since a molecule of glucose-6-phosphate can be regenerated from two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, glucose can be completely oxidized via The pentose phosphate pathway:

Class="center">3 Glucose-6-phosphate + 6 NADP+ → 3 CO2 + 2 Glucose-6-phosphate +

+ Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate + 6 NADPH + 6 H+.



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.