Mitochondria

**NOTE**  Sorry I have not posted recently, most of my time has been taken up by school.  Over the Labor Day weekend I have a little extra time so I am going to be posting as much as possible.

Today's Medical Topic:  Mitochondria

Off the Top of My Head:   Often called :the power plant of the cell" mitochondria is an organelle within cells that somehow provide or generate energy.  How do they do that?  I am not entirely sure but I am going to try to find out.

Sorta looks like the lazy river in a water park.

My Research Today:  Mitochondria are organelles located in the cytoplasm of your cells.  Mitochondria are fairly large, respectively, and can be seen on a 10,000x microscope with an oil immersion lens.  There are multiple mitochondria per cell and they are responsible for manufacturing a special molecule that provides energy for your cells.

Primarily the function of mitochondria is cellular respiration and to produce adenosine triphosphate or ATP which is a high energy fuel source for every cellular reaction in your body.  Mitochondria also does some other stuff too but we are not going to talk about that today.

Damn carbon molecules are like
dog crap.  They get everywhere.

The process starts by cutting one glucose molecule into two smaller glucose molecules.  This process also yields 2 ATP molecules, some sort of acid, and 2 electron carrying molecules.  The two sugars are converted into a different compound, this in turn produces 2 more ATP molecules plus several more compounds that carry electrons.  This cycle is called the "Citric Acid Cycle" and it only occurs when oxygen is present in the hemoglobin, however, it does not use oxygen directly.

I have no idea.

This next step is where your mitochondria comes in.  The mitochondria channel the electron string into the oxygen and through some extremely complex chemical reactions this creates even more ATP.  The cycle repeats itself as needed as long as there is fuel and oxygen to burn.

I hope I did not screw that up too bad.  Maybe tomorrow I will get into what exactly adenosine triphosphate is.  And maybe I will stick with subjects I have a better understanding of.

Send questions or comments to dudaday@gmail.com

Disclaimer:  I am not a health care provider, any information presented in this blog should not be considered advice it is mearly an outlet to slake my curiosity.  You should always consult your primary medical provider for any concerns or illness.  Unlike Tylenol, I am not approved by the FDA or American Medical Association to treat or provide relief for any ailment.