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Citrate Lab Report

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The purpose of this study, the Role of Citric Acid in Intermediate Metabolism in Animal Tissues, is to examine the intermediate steps of the oxidative breakdown of citrate that occurs when carbohydrates are exposed to anaerobic fermentation in animal tissue. Anaerobic fermentation is a metabolic pathway in which sugar is consumed when lacking the presence of oxygen. Oxygen starved muscle cells use lactic acid fermentation which is the metabolic pathway in which pyruvate is turned into lactic acid for energy. An intermediate step is a stage that occurs in between the starting products and ending products of a metabolic pathway. Specifically in this experiment, the breakdown of the addition of oxygen or removal of hydrogen is the main focus. …show more content…

In the respiration phase, citrate helps increase the intake of oxygen while slowing down the releasing of carbon dioxide as shown in Table I. Glycogen, hexosediphosphate, alpha-glycerophosphate increases the effect of the respiration phase helping support that carbohydrates are the substrates that are catalyzed by the citrate in the pigeon muscles. Next, the researchers examined the rate of disappearance of citric acid and found that the poisons arsenite or malonate make the citric acid in the muscle disappear in large groups if oxygen is present, but they do not affect the breakdown of citric acid. Table III shows the effect that arsenite has on the citric acid of the pigeon muscle. Researchers then looked at the conversion of citric acid to alpha-ketogluteric acid by using methylene blue to oxidize citric acid because neither poisons could fully oxidize citric acid (Table IV). The oxidation of the citric acid (malonate), is then checked by being placed in succinic acid, which identified succinic and alpha- ketogluteric acid by measuring the pressure of the fluid in a column or manometrically. To see if the synthesis of citric acid is true, the researchers must find out if citric acid can be regenerated through one of the products made through oxidation. The pigeon muscle was able to generate citric acid in the presence of oxaloacetic acid; however, the other intermediates including pyruvic acid

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