Cell Chemical Reactions

The cell chemical reactions take place millions of times every second in our body tissue. In these reactions there are transport of material, production of energy, formation of structures, such as the molecules of proteins, and removal of wastes. This is what makes living things unique among all forms of matter, having the capacity to interact with the environment and manipulate matter and energy, with the help of enzymes, to transform them into useful products for growth and multiplication.

All cells take in essential substances, such as water, oxygen, and nutrients from their external environment. Inside the cells, these substances undergo chemical reactions of several types to break down substances, synthesize others, repair defective structures. These fast chemical processes also provide energy for these life-sustaining activities as well as others, such as reproduction, while surplus byproducts of these reactions are eliminated as wastes. The energy needed by eukaryotic cells to keep themselves alive and carry out many chemical reactions is known as ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), which is produced from either glucose or ketone bodies during one of these reactions.

The intake, breaking down, and transformation of substances are called metabolism, which needs special enzymes that act as catalysts, causing and speeding all these cell chemical reactions that take place in the cell. The substances involved in the metabolism are elements, such as oxygen, and molecules, like water, salts, glucose, and ketone bodies. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances, for example oxygen, calcium, sodium, iron, etc, while molecules can be broken down and transformed, indeed, into simpler molecules or elements.