Inter-relationships of glucose and lipid metabolism

Abstract

0 VER the course of the past five years a considerable advance has been made in our understanding of how glucose may influence a number of phases of lipid metabolism. The elucidation of this problem has been greatly aided, on the one hand by studies on the details of glucose breakdown, and on the other by a number of fundamental advances in our knowledge of the biochemical mechanisms of lipogenesis and of ketogenesis. It should be emphasized at the outset of this review, however, that there remain today numerous unanswered questions in this field, especially in regard to the relationship between glycolysis and the synthesis of ketone bodies and of cholesterol. There can be little doubt that the most important advance in this field stems from the realization that glucose can be metabolized in most cells of the body by at least two different pathways. This conclusion was first reached independently by Lipmann [I] and by Dickens [z] in 1936; however, it has only been during the past few years that the details of the biochemical reactions involved in the so-called pentose phosphate pathway of glucose breakdown have been fully described [3,4]. Furthermore, only recently have methods been developed for determining the relative quantitative significance of the two major pathways of glucose catabolism.