Carbohydrate metabolism is the set of pathways that break down and build glucose to fuel the body's cells, and this course walks through each one in turn. You'll cover glycolysis and the fate of pyruvate, gluconeogenesis and how it reciprocally regulates with glycolysis, and the citric acid cycle, glyoxylate cycle, and ketone body metabolism that follow. The course also covers the pentose phosphate pathway and its role in generating NADPH, and glycogen metabolism – how glycogen is synthesized, broken down, and regulated by hormones such as insulin and epinephrine through signal transduction and second messengers like cyclic AMP. Along the way, you'll examine the metabolism of fructose and galactose and the enzymes and disorders associated with each. By the end, you'll be able to explain how these pathways interconnect to keep blood glucose levels within a normal range.