[Interaction of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway and hexose monophosphate shunt in erythrocytes]

A mathematical model of glycolysis in human erythrocytes for the interaction between the Embden-Meyerhof and the pentose phosphate pathways has been developed. The characteristic surfaces, i. e. interdependencies between the rates of metabolite flows in both pathways and ATP and NADPH concentrations have been calculated. The model obtained is well correlated with the experimental data on glycolysis characteristic at low rates of the pentose phosphate pathway reactions. The model suggests that NADPH and GSH concentrations should be stabilized. At ATP and NADPH concentrations close to the physiological ones the Embden-Meyerhof and pentose phosphate pathways function practically independently. When the NADPH concentration is decreased below 80% of the physiological value, the system ceases to stabilize the ATP concentration. In its turn, a decrease of ATP concentration results in a corresponding decrease of the maximal rate of the pentose phosphate pathway.