Catabolism Health Dictionary

This means tissue change, and includes all the physical and chemical processes by which the living body is maintained – as well as those by which the energy is made available for various forms of work. The constructive, chemical and physical, processes by which food materials are adapted for the use of the body are collectively known as ANABOLISM. The destructive processes by which energy is produced with the breaking-down of tissues into waste products is known as CATABOLISM. Basal metabolism is the term applied to the energy changes necessary for essential processes such as the beating of the heart, respiration, and maintenance of body warmth. This can be estimated, when a person is placed in a state of complete rest, by measuring the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanged during breathing under certain standard conditions. (See also CALORIE.)... metabolism

The general term for any one of a group of HORMONES which govern the development of the sexual organs and the secondary sexual characteristics of the male. TESTOSTERONE, the androgenic hormone formed in the interstitial cells of the testis (see TESTICLE), controls the development and maintenance of the male sex organs and secondary sex characteristics. In small doses it increases the number of spermatozoa (see SPERMATOZOON) produced, but in large doses it inhibits the gonadotrophic activity of the anterior PITUITARY GLAND and suppresses the formation of the spermatozoa. It is both androgenic and anabolic in action. The anabolic e?ect includes the ability to stimulate protein synthesis and to diminish the catabolism of amino acids, and this is associated with retention of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and calcium. Doses in excess of 10 mg daily to the female may produce VIRILISM.

Unconjugated testosterone is rarely used clinically because its derivatives have a more powerful and prolonged e?ect, and because testosterone itself requires implantation into the subcutaneous fat using a trocar and cannula for maximum therapeutic bene?t. Testosterone propionate is prepared in an oily solution, as it is insoluble in water; it is e?ective for three days and is therefore administered intramuscularly twice weekly. Testosterone phenyl-propionate is a long-acting microcrystalline preparation which, when given by intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, is e?ective for four weeks. Testosterone enantate is another long-acting intramuscular preparation. Mesterolone is an e?ective oral androgen and is less hepatoxic: it does not inhibit pituitary gonadotrophic production and hence spermatogenesis is unimpaired. Testosterone undecanoate is also an e?ective oral form.... androgen

The part of metabolism that deals with destruction or simplification of more complex compounds. Catabolism mostly results in the release of energy. Examples: the release of glucose by the liver, the combustion of glucose by cells.... catabolic

The phenomenon of killing so many infectious organisms so quickly that the amount of dead biomass itself causes liver overload, allergic reactions, or a mild foreign-body response. It can occur with antibiotic therapy, treatment of candidiasis, and even with use of some herbal antivirals. Outside of prescription antifungals, it is seldom acknowledged as a medical problem. If you use a liver stimulant, diaphoretic, and diuretic, you will increase the efficiency of transport, catabolism, and excretion, and lessen the effects of die-off.... die-off

In severely ill patients, the metabolic responses to tissue damage may be su?cient to cause a reduction of muscle mass and of plasma proteins. This state of CATABOLISM may also impair the immune response to infection and delay the healing of wounds. It is probable that as many as one-half of patients who have had a major operation a week previously show evidence of protein malnutrition. This can be detected clinically by a loss of weight and a reduction in the skinfold thickness and arm circumference. Biochemically the serum-albumin (see ALBUMINS) concentration falls, as does the LYMPHOCYTE count. The protein reserves of the body fall even more dramatically when there are SEPSIS, burns, acute pancreatitis or renal failure.

The purpose of enteral feeding is to give a liquid, low-residue food through a naso-gastric feeding tube. It has the advantage over parenteral nutrition that the septic complications of insertion of CATHETERS into veins are avoided. Enteral feeding may either take the form of intermittent feeding through a large-bore naso-gastric tube, or of continuous gravity-feeding through a ?ne-bore tube.

A number of proprietary enteral foods are available. Some contain whole protein as the nitrogen source; others – and these are called elemental diets – contain free amino acids. DIARRHOEA is the most common problem with enteral feeding and it tends to occur when enteral feeding is introduced too rapidly or with too strong a preparation.... enteral feeding

A collection of disorders in which some part of the body’s internal chemistry (see METABOLISM; CATABOLISM) is disrupted. Some of these disorders arise from inherited de?ciencies in which a speci?c ENZYME is absent or abnormal, or does not function properly. Other metabolic disorders occur because of malfunctions in the endocrine system (see ENDOCRINE GLANDS). There may be over- or underproduction of a hormone involved in the control of metabolic activities: a prime example is DIABETES MELLITUS – a disorder of sugar metabolism; others include CUSHING’S SYNDROME; hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism (see THYROID GLAND, DISEASES OF); and insulinoma (an insulin-producing tumour of the pancreas). The bones can be affected by metabolic disorders such as osteoporosis, osteomalacia (rickets) and Paget’s disease (see under BONE, DISORDERS OF). PORPHYRIAS, HYPERLIPIDAEMIA, HYPERCALCAEMIA and gout are other examples of disordered metabolism.

There are also more than 200 identi?ed disorders described as inborn errors of metabolism. Some cause few problems; others are serious threats to an individual’s life. Individual disorders are, fortunately, rare – probably one child in 10,000 or 100,000; overall these inborn errors affect around one child in 1,000. Examples include GALACTOSAEMIA, PHENYLKETONURIA, porphyrias, TAY SACHS DISEASE and varieties of mucopolysaccharidosis, HOMOCYSTINURIA and hereditary fructose (a type of sugar) intolerance.... metabolic disorders

The manufacture of complex molecules, such as fats and proteins, from simpler molecules by metabolic processes in living cells. (See also catabolism; metabolism.)... anabolism