Figure 1.

Effects of cancer cachexia on skeletal muscle energetic metabolism. This schematic representation is only based on animal studies. Reduced glycogen and glucose contents in skeletal muscle contribute to alter glycolysis flux. A decrease in mitochondrial content and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, together with a decreased in ATP synthesis from phosphocreatine system, leads to a reduced ATP content in skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle proteins are degraded and subsequently processed into amino acids. Individual amino acids can be either exported outside the muscle fibre or transported into the mitochondria (anaplerotic flux). Fatty acid metabolism is not represented because there is currently no study available. Black arrows indicate variations in metabolite concentration. Dashed arrow indicates experimentally demonstrated reduction in the corresponding metabolic pathway. Cr, creatine; G, glucose; G‐1‐P, glucose‐1‐phosphate; G‐6‐P, glucose‐6‐phosphate; OXPHOS, oxidative phosphorylation; PCr, phosphocreatine; TCA, tricarboxylic acid cycle.