What Is Pyruvate Dehydrogenase?
Energy production is a critical cellular function. Glucose is taken from the blood by cells and converted to pyruvate, which nets a cell 2 ATP molecules for every glucose molecule metabolized. If that was the end of the story, we would need excessive amounts of glucose every day just to stay alive. Instead, pyruvate is further metabolized to acetyl-CoA by pyruvate dehydrogenase. Acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle, where it is used to produce more energy.
