Regulation of glycolysis in human erythrocytes. The mechanism of ATP concentration stabilization.

The mathematical modelling of human erythrocyte energy metabolism has shown that stabilization of ATP concentration can be achieved if the curve representing the relation between glycolysis rate and ATP concentration (glycolysis characteristic) is bell-shaped with steeply descending part at physiologically normal ATP concentration. The glycolysis characteristic of human erythrocytes has been obtained experimentally. In erythrocytes of different donors the glycolysis characteristics are greatly different quantitatively, but have qualitatively similar bel-like shape with steeply descending part at physiologically normal ATP concentration. This characteristics can be made coincident for all donors if they are plotted in relative units taking for 100% the physiologically normal values of glycolysis rate and ATP for every individual donor. The coincidence of the normalized erythrocyte glycolysis characteristics for different donors can be achieved in the mathematical model of erythrocyte energy metabolism under the assumption that the phosphofructokinase rate depends effectively on the relation of ATP to adenylate pool and the total erythrocyte ATPase is strongly inhibited by AMP.