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Glycerol metabolism

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

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Plasma glycerol may enter cellular glycolysis or gluconeogenesis after traversing the plasma membrane:

  • glycerol kinase converts glycerol to glycerol-3-phosphate
  • glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase converts glycerol-3-phosphate into dihydroxyacetone phosphate
  • triose phosphate isomerase converts dihydroxyacetone phosphate into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate

Either glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate or dihydroxyacetone phosphate may be used as substrates for glycolysis or gluconeogenesis. The direction of flow is dependent on the activity of a number of non-equilibrium reactions - see submenu.

Generally, glycerol is released from its storage within triglycerides during lipolysis.

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