The Quantitatively Minor Role of Carbohydrate in Oxidative Metabolism by Skeletal Muscle in Intact Man in the Basal State. Measurements of Oxygen and Glucose Uptake and Carbon Dioxide and Lactate Production in the Forearm 12

Skeletal muscle accounts for some 40 per cent of body weight. Presumably, by virtue of its bulk as the largest mass of tissue, its metabolism may be a major factor in total body economy and yet surprisingly little is known of the quantitative characteristics of metabolism of skeletal muscle. Studies of excised muscle and its extracts have provided a rich background relating to the metabolic capabilities of muscle. They have shown a great deal about the apparatus with which muscle is equipped to perform its functions in dissimilating metabolites but they fail to reveal the quantitative importance of particular pathways of dissimilation in the total scheme.