The importance of redox reactions in metabolism

An understanding of the redox chemistry of organic compounds is central to understanding the metabolism of living things. Think back to the electrochemistry that you learned in general chemistry.  In your laboratory class, you may have set up a galvanic cell consisting of a copper electrode immersed in an aqueous copper nitrate solution, connected by a wire to a zinc electrode immersed in an aqueous zinc nitrate solution. When you completed the cell with a salt bridge, an electrical current began to flow - what you constructed was a simple battery. Over time, the copper electrode got heavier as metallic copper was deposited on the copper cathode, while the zinc anode slowly dissolved into solution. The redox reaction that was occurring was:

Cu+2(aq)  + Zn(s) → Cu(s) + Zn+2(aq)

Electrons were flowing from zinc metal to copper cations, creating zinc cations and copper metal.  You could have predicted beforehand that the spontaneous flow of electrons would go in this (and not the opposite) direction just by looking at a table of standard reduction potentials (such a table is was no doubt in your general chemistry text).   Zinc metal is a stronger reducing agent than copper metal, meaning that, under identical conditions, more energy is released by oxidizing one mole of zinc metal to Zn2+ than is released by oxidizing a mole of copper metal to Cu2+.   Therefore, the transfer of two electrons from zinc metal to Cu2+ is a thermodynamically downhill process, whereas the transfer of two electrons from copper metal to Zn2+ is thermodynamically uphill.

Let's try to extend the idea of redox reactions to a organic/biochemistry context.  When we drink a can of cola, we are taking in fuel molecules mainly in the form of the disaccharide sucrose,  which is a form of sugar we quickly convert to glucose. Then, in a long series of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, we 'burn' the glucose molecules: we transfer electrons from glucose to molecular oxygen, oxidizing the carbon molecules to carbon dioxide and reducing O2 to water:



Glucose is a much stronger reducing agent than water (or, to put it in a more conventional  way, O2 is a much stronger oxidizing agent than CO2).  Therefore, the transfer of electrons from glucose to O2 is a thermodynamically downhill, energy-releasing process, just like the transfer of electrons from zinc metal to copper ion.  And while you could have used the energy released by the zinc/copper redox reaction to light a small light bulb (or to give your lab partner a nice little shock!), your cells use the energy released by the glucose/oxygen redox process to carry out a wide variety of energy-requiring activities.

Example 16.3

If the oxidation of glucose to CO2 is thermodynamically downhill, why doesn't a teaspoon of corn sugar (pure glucose) spontaneously oxidize before your eyes?

In your general chemistry copper/zinc battery, was it possible to get the reaction to run in the uphill direction - to oxidize copper and reduce zinc?

Zn+2(aq)  + Cu(s)  + energy → Zn(s) + Cu+2(aq)

Of course it was! All you had to do was to provide energy in the form of an external electrical current (you do something like this every time you recharge a battery).  In the same way, the photosynthesis systems of plants are able to reduce carbon dioxide and oxidize water to form glucose and molecular oxygen. 

6CO2 + 6H2O + energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Because water is such a weak reducing agent, this is very much an 'uphill' reaction thermodynamically, and therefore it requires the input of energy from an external source - the sun.  On a global scale, the breakdown and oxidation of sugar to CO2 by non-photosynthetic organisms (like people) and the subsequent reduction and condensation of CO2 back to sugar and oil by plants is a central part of  what ecologists refer to as the 'carbon cycle'.

Like plants, animals can also drive some kinds of unfavorable, 'uphill' redox reactions with energy input from an external source .  But where plants use energy from the sun, we use the energy we get from oxidizing food molecules to drive our uphill redox reactions - this is why we need to eat in the first place! Also unlike plants, we are not able to make glucose out of carbon dioxide - we don't have the right enzymes.

In general the more reduced an organic molecule is, the more energy is released when it is oxidized to CO2. Going back to our single-carbon examples, we see that methane, the most reduced species, releases the most energy when oxidized, while formic acid releases the least:



This explains why fatty acids (like stearate, below), in which most of the carbons are in the alkane oxidation state,  contain more energy than sugars, where most of the carbons are in the alcohol oxidation state. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

AFFIRMATIONS

“Faith without nerve is dead.”

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There is never a slip ’twixt the right cup and the right lip.

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Never look or you’d never leap.

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God works in unexpected places, through unexpected people, at unexpected times, His wonders to perform.

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Power moves but is never moved.

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Loving your neighbor means not to limit your neighbor in word, thought or deed.

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“Never argue with a hunch.”

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Christopher Columbus followed a hunch.

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The Kingdom of Heaven is the realm of perfect ideas.

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It is dark before the dawn but the dawn never fails. Trust in the dawn.

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When in doubt play trumps, do the fearless thing.

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It is the fearless things that count.

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Never do today what intuition says to do tomorrow.

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It’s a great life if you don’t reason.

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Regard your neighbor as yourself.

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Never hinder another’s hunch.

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Selfishness binds and blocks. Every loving and unselfish thought has in it the germ of success.

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Be not weary of make-believing. When you least expect it you shall reap.

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Faith is elastic. Stretch it to the end of your demonstration.

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Before you call you are answered, for the supply precedes the demand.

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What you do for others you are doing for yourself.

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Every act committed while angry or resentful brings unhappy reaction.

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Sorrow and disappointment follow in the wake of deceit and subterfuge. The way of the transgressor is hard. “No good thing will be withheld from him who walks uprightly.”

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There is no power in evil. It is nothing; therefore can only come to nothing.

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Fear and impatience demagnetize. Poise magnetizes.

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Drown the reasoning mind with your affirmation. Jehoshaphat clapped his cymbals so that he wouldn’t hear himself think.

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All bondage is an illusion of the race consciousness. There is always a way out of every situation, under grace. Every man is free to do the will of God.

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Sure-ism is stronger than Optimism.

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“Divine ideas never conflict.”

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It is dangerous to stop in the middle of a hunch.

Infinite Spirit is never too late.

The Power of the Word

A person knowing the power of the word, becomes very careful of his conversation. He has only to watch the reaction of his words to know that they do "not return void." Through his spoken word, man is continually making laws for himself. I knew a man who said, "I always miss a car. It invariably pulls out just as I arrive."

His daughter said: "I always catch a car. It's sure to come just as I get there." This occurred for years. Each had made a separate law for himself, one of failure, one of success. This is the psychology of superstitions.

The horse-shoe or rabbit's foot contains no power, but man's spoken word and belief that it will bring good luck creates expectancy in the subconscious mind, and attracts a "lucky situation." I find however, this will not "work" when man has advanced spiritually and knows a higher law. One cannot turn back, and must put away "graven images."

For example: Two men in my class had had great success in business for several months, when suddenly everything "went to smash." We tried to analyze the situation, and I found, instead of making their affirmations and looking to God for success and prosperity, they had each bought a "lucky monkey." I said: "Oh I see, you have been trusting in the lucky monkeys instead of God." "Put away the lucky monkeys and call on the law of forgiveness," for man has power to forgive or neutralize his mistakes.

They decided to throw the lucky monkeys down a coalhole, and all went well again. This does not mean, however, that one should throw away every "lucky" ornament or horse-shoe about the house, but he must recognize that the power back of it is the one and only power, God, and that the object simply gives him a feeling of expectancy.

I was with a friend, one day, who was in deep despair. In crossing the street, she picked up a horse-shoe. Immediately, she was filled with joy and hope. She said God had sent her the horsehoe in order to keep up her courage.

It was indeed, at that moment, about the only thing that could have registered in her consciousness. Her hope became faith, and she ultimately made a wonderful demonstration. I wish to make the point clear that the men previously mentioned were depending on the monkeys, alone, while this woman recognized the power back of the horseshoe.

I know, in my own case, it took a long while to get out of a belief that a certain thing brought disappointment. If the thing happened, disappointment invariably followed. I found the only way I could make a change in the subconscious, was by asserting, "There are not two powers, there is only one power, God, therefore, there are not disappointments, and this thing means a happy surprise." I noticed a change at once, and happy surprises commenced coming my way.

I have a friend who said nothing could induce her to walk under a ladder. I said, "If you are afraid, you are giving in to a belief in two powers, Good and Evil, instead of one. As God is absolute, there can be no opposing power, unless man makes the false of evil for himself. To show you believe in only One Power, God, and that there is no power or reality in evil, walk under the next ladder you see."

Soon after, she went to her bank. She wished to open her box in the safe-deposit vault, and there stood a ladder on her pathway. It was impossible to reach the box without passing under the ladder. She quailed with fear and turned back. She could not face the lion on her pathway. However, when she reached the street, my words rang in her ears and she decided to return and walk under it. It was a big moment in her life, for ladders had held her in bondage for years. She retraced her steps to the vault, and the ladder was no longer there! This so often happens! If one is willing to do a thing he is afraid to do, he does not have to.

It is the law of nonresistance, which is so little understood.

Someone has said that courage contains genius and magic. Face a situation fearlessly, and there is no situation to face; it falls away of its own weight.

The explanation is, that fear attracted the ladder on the woman's pathway, and fearlessness removed it.

Thus the invisible forces are ever working for man who is always "pulling the strings" himself, though he does not know it. Owing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract. People who continually speak of disease, invariably attract it.

After man knows the truth, he cannot be too careful of his words. For example: I have a friend who often says on the 'phone, "Do come to see me and have an old-fashioned chat." This "old-fashioned chat" means an hour of about five hundred to a thousand destructive words, the principal topics being loss, lack, failure and sickness.

I reply: "No, I thank you. I've had enough old-fashioned chats in my life, they are too expensive, but I will be glad to have a new-fashioned chat, and talk about what we want, not what we don't want." There is an old saying that man only dares use his words for three purposes, to "heal, bless or prosper." What man says of others will be said of him, and what he wishes for another, he is wishing for himself.

"Curses, like chickens, come home to roost."

If a man wishes someone "bad luck," he is sure to attract bad luck himself. If he wishes to aid someone to success, he is wishing and aiding himself to success.

The body may be renewed and transformed through the spoken word and clear vision, and disease be completely wiped out of the consciousness. The metaphysician knows that all disease has a mental correspondence, and in order to heal the body one must first "heal the soul."

The soul is the subconscious mind, and it must be "saved" from wrong thinking.

In the twenty-third psalm, we read: "He restoreth my soul." This means that the subconscious mind or soul, must be restored with the right ideas, and the "mystical marriage" is the marriage of the soul and the spirit, or the subconscious and superconscious mind. They must be one. When the subconscious is flooded with the perfect ideas of the superconscious, God and man are one, "I and the Father are one." That is, he is one with the realm of perfect ideas; he is the man made in God's likeness and image (imagination) and is given power and dominion over all created things, his mind, body and affairs.

It is safe to say that all sickness and unhappiness come from the violation of the law of love. A new commandment I give unto you, "Love one another," and in the Game of Life, love or good-will takes every trick.

For example: A woman I know, had, for years an appearance of a terrible skin disease. The doctors told her it was incurable, and she was in despair. she was on the stage, and she feared she would soon have to give up her profession, and she had no other means of support. She, however, procured a good engagement, and on the opening night, made a great "hit." She received flattering notices from the critics, and was joyful and elated. The next day she received a notice of dismissal. A man in the cast had been jealous of her success and had caused her to be sent away. She felt hatred and resentment taking complete possession of her, and she cried out, "Oh God don't let me hate that man." That night she worked for hours "in the silence."

She said, "I soon came into a very deep silence. I seemed to be at peace with myself, with the man, and with the whole world. I continued this for two following nights, and on the third day I found I was healed completely of the skin disease!" In asking for love, or good will, she had fulfilled the law, ("for love is the fulfilling of the law") and the disease (which came from subsconscious resentment) was wiped out.

Continual criticism produces rheumatism, as critical, inharmonious thoughts cause unnatural deposits in the blood, which settle in the joints.

False growths are caused by jealousy, hatred unforgiveness, fear, etc. Every disease is caused by a mind not at ease. I said once, in my class, "There is no use asking anyone 'What's the matter with you?' we might just as well say, 'Who's the matter with you?' "Unforgiveness is the most prolific cause of disease. It will harden arteries or liver, and affect the eye-sight. In its train are endless ills.

I called on a woman, one day, who said she was ill from having eaten a poisoned oyster. I replied, "Oh, no, the oyster was harmless, you poisoned the oyster. What's the matter with you?" She answered, "Oh about nineteen people." She had quarrelled with nineteen people and had become so inharmonious that she attracted the wrong oyster.

Any inharmony on the external, indicates there is mental inharmony. "As the within, so the without."

Man's only enemies are within himself. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Personality is one of the last enemies to be overcome, as this planet is taking its initiation in love. It was Christ's message - "Peace on Earth, good will towards man." The enlightened man, therefore, endeavors to perfect himself upon his neighbor. His work is with himself, to send out goodwill and blessings to every man, and the marvelous thing is, that if one blesses a man he has no power to harm him.

For example: A man came to me asking to "treat" for success in business. He was selling machinery, and rival appeared on the scene with what he proclaimed, was a better machine, and my friend feared defeat. I said, "First of all, we must wipe out all fear, and know that God protects your interest, and that the divine idea must come out of the situation. That is, the right machine will be sold, by the right man, to the right man." And I added, "Don't hold one critical thought towards that man. Bless him all day, and be willing not to sell your machine, if it isn't the divine idea." So he went to the meeting, fearless and nonresistant, and blessing the other man. He said the outcome was very remarkable. the other man's machine refused to work, and he sold his without the slightest difficulty. "But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you."

"Good-will produces a great aura of protection about the one who sends it, and "No weapon that is formed against him shall prosper." In other words, love and good-will destroy the enemies with one's self, therefore, one has no enemies on the external!

"There is peace on earth for him who sends good-will to man!" 

The Mechanism of Pain.

When we all truly understand this mechanism of pain , then we can help ourselves to really prevent it.

The mechanism of pain production is a simple process. When there is no enough water circulation to cleanse the toxic waste of continuous function from the drought-stricken area and acid by-products of metabolism continue to build up, at a certain level of acidity --- a level that obviously eats into and hurts the gene pool --- an acid-sensitive substance in the nerve tissue called kininogen gets converted to kinin. 

[Related links :  http://theinnozablog.blogspot.sg/2012/11/cancer-cells-are-anaerobic-and-can-only.html

 http://theinnozablog.blogspot.sg/2012/11/dna-damage-prerequisite-to-cancer.html ]

Kinin itself is a pain-producing substance.

The pain sensors and nerve endings in the area register their toxicity information with the brain, and the brain translate this message for the conscious mind into attention-grabbing pain.

It next stop further activity in the area of pain until the circulation opens up and more blood is brought to cleanse the area and activate the repair processes to undo the damage. This process causes a localised inflammatory reaction, be it in the joints of the hands and the legs, the spinal column, the heart muscle (angina), and all the other pains. 

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