Biological Oxidation

Biological Oxidation

Introduction

The oxidative degradation of carbohydrates, fats and amino acids at cellular level needs oxygen and any metabolism after complete oxidation forms CO₂ and H₂O. Hence, any biological oxidation taking place at tissue level is associated with the uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide and rapidly liberates energy. This biological oxidation accompanied by specific enzymes and coenzymes in a step wise fashion involves the union between hydrogen atoms with oxygen atom to form water. During the electron transport, the electrons are transferred from organic substrates to oxygen yielding energy in the generation bond energy in the form of Adenosine triphosphates (ATP) from Adenosine diphosphates (ADP). ATP and ADP are known as high energy phosphates as the cleavage of phosphate bond in them yield energy and inorganic phosphate. This energy is utilized for the anabolic and catabolic processes. The oxidative phosphorylation enables the aerobic living organisms to capture a far greater proportion of available free energy of the oxidizing substrates in the form of ATP. Oxidation involving phosphorylation is a very vital process and it is a continuous process and any disturbance of its function is incompatible with life.