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Carbohydrate Metabolism: Glucose Entry Into Cells
Carbohydrate Metabolism: Glucose Entry Into Cells
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Fig. 4.2 Macroscopic structure of glycogen. Hexagons represent glucose monomers. Note that both (14) and (16) carbon-tocarbon bonds are present (examples shown within the dotted boxes). These bonds are detailed in Fig. 4.12.
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Facilitated diffusion
In certain environments, glucose is a greater extracellularly than intracellularly. The concentration gradient
is thus favourable for glucose to passively enter the
cell. However, a route is required to traverse the
phospholipid bilayer. This is provided by the GLUT
facilitated diffusion transporters. The different characteristics of the most important subtypes are shown in
Fig. 4.3.