Hypothesis: The electrochemical regulation of metabolism

Abstract -An Electrochemical model of metabolism is described that takes account of a variety of metabolic phenomena observed in our laboratory. These include a utilisation by hepatocytes of oxygen, substantially in excess of ATP requirements; energydependence of the [lactate~[pyruvate] ratio; non-equilibrium behaviour of the components of the lactate dehydrogenase reaction during ethanol oxidation, and linear relationships between cellular potentials and metabolic fluxes. In the light of these findings, we propose as an extension of the Mitchell chemiosmotic hypothesis, that metabolic pathways are under the control of opposing far-from-equilibrium chemical and electrical forces that poise the pathways in a balanced state of apparent equilibrium, allowing flux to be regulated by changes in the magnitude of cellular potentials