title: Lactate is always the end product of glycolysis.
abstract: Through much of the history of metabolism, lactate (La(-)) has been considered merely a dead-end waste product during periods of dysoxia. Congruently, the end product of glycolysis has been viewed dichotomously: pyruvate in the presence of adequate oxygenation, La(-) in the absence of adequate oxygenation. In contrast, given the near-equilibrium nature of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) reaction and that LDH has a much higher activity than the putative regulatory enzymes of the glycolytic and oxidative pathways, we contend that La(-) is always the end product of glycolysis. Cellular La(-) accumulation, as opposed to flux, is dependent on (1) the rate of glycolysis, (2) oxidative enzyme activity, (3) cellular O2 level, and (4) the net rate of La(-) transport into (influx) or out of (efflux) the cell. For intracellular metabolism, we reintroduce the Cytosol-to-Mitochondria Lactate Shuttle. Our proposition, analogous to the phosphocreatine shuttle, purports that pyruvate, NAD(+), NADH, and La(-) are held uniformly near equilibrium throughout the cell cytosol due to the high activity of LDH. La(-) is always the end product of glycolysis and represents the primary diffusing species capable of spatially linking glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rogatzki
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Brian S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Goodwin
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Auburn University Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: L Bruce
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Gladden
keywords: NADH; aerobic; anaerobic; cytosolic lactate shuttle; lactate dehydrogenase; mitochondria; pyruvate