What Does Catabolic Mean?
Catabolic or Catabolism refers to the process of metabolism by which nutrients and complex substances are broken down into simpler compounds accompanied with the release of energy in living cells. It is the exact opposite of Anabolism where energy is used and not released to build larger molecules from smaller ones. Catabolism is a series of chemical reactions within a cell that lead to the breakdown of large polymeric molecules into simpler monomeric units. Polymeric molecules include polysaccharides, proteins, fatty acids and nucleic acids and monomeric units consist of carbon units, amino acids, monosaccharides and nucleotides. Examples of catabolism are the burning of glucose by cells or glucose being released by the liver. Growth usually occurs when there is more anabolic activity as compared to catabolic in cells. At any one time only one set of activities can take place within a cell.
