976310 Metabolism and digestion physiology

Type
Lecture
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Oliveira De Souza De Azevedo, Pamela
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2025
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

Core elements of metabolism (membranes and transport systems, enzymes and hormones, energy).
Nutrient intake and digestion (regulation of intake, digestion of carbohydrates, fat, protein).
Oxidation of nutrients for production of ATP (principles, regulation, cross links between nutrients).
Conversion and synthesis of nutrients (glucose/glycogen, fat, amino acids).
Control of nutrient metabolism in the whole body (hunger/postprandial, interactions between metabolism of organs/tissues).
Previous knowledge expected

Basic knowledge in animal nutrition, physiology and biochemistry
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

After successful attendance of this course the students
- understand the basics of the composition of the eukaryotic cell.
- can value the impact of membranes in transport of nutrients and gases as well as in compartimenting pathways in metabolism.
- know the physiological signals of hunger and satiety as well as the published theories of their regulation
- differences in digestion of food to the various absorbable nutrients and their further pathways to the target sites can be identified
- dealing with the content of the course enables the students to understand the oxidation of nutrients for energy production and to differentiate the various ways to transform and synthesize nutrients.
- the junctions in metabolic pathways can be identified
- Students can describe the biochemical traits of enzymes, co-enzymes, co-factors and hormones to facilitate and accelerate reactions.
- this acquired knowledge enables students to identify the various regulatory routes to modulate metabolic pathways and they can apply this knowledge on the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fat.
- being familiar with catabolic and anabolic processes, students are able to define the elementary interaction of metabolic pathways of nutrients at a cellular level
- students can estimate the functions of metabolically active organs and tissues (i.e. liver, muscle, fat, kidney and brain) in the utilization of nutrients.
- students are able to predict the reaction of the entire organism on a given metabolic situation.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.