WHAT IS LACTATE AND HOW IS IT USED DURING EXERCISE?
The first thing to understand about lactate is we are always producing and clearing it. Lactate is
produced more rapidly during high intensity exercise in order to keep glycolysis functioning at a rapid
rate to produce ATP very quickly.
Two truths about lactate:
1) Lactate does NOT cause soreness or fatigue!
2) Lactate is used as an energy source and not a dead end metabolite of exercise!
Lactate is simply correlated with fatigue and not the cause of fatigue. So what are the three ways we can
use lactate as an energy source?
1. The lactate that is produced in the cytoplasm of the cell during glycolysis can be shuttled to the
mitochondria where it can be then converted back to pyruvate and then to acetyl CoA to enter
the Krebs cycle for oxidative metabolism.
2. Lactate, which is primarily produced in type 2 muscle fibers, can be shuttled to nearby type 1
muscle fibers. This highlights the fact that muscle of the lactate produced by any one muscle
actually never leaves that muscle and is metabolized within. Lactate is able to shuttle between
cells though specialized transporters known as monocarboxylate transport (MCT).
3. The last way lactate can be used as an energy source is in the liver. Lactate produced in the
muscle can enter the blood stream and make its way to the liver. In the liver cells, lactate is
converted to glucose (through a process known as gluconeogenesis) where then the “new”
glucose is pumped back into the blood stream to be then taken up for skeletal muscle for fuel
during exercise.
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