Pathway

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Pathway (Medicine)

Pathway (pronunciation: /ˈpæθˌweɪ/) in the context of medicine, refers to a series of actions among molecules in a cell that leads to a certain product or a change in the cell. Such a series of actions is also called a metabolic pathway.

Etymology

The term "pathway" originates from the Old English "paþweg", which is a compound of "paþ" (path) and "weg" (way). In the medical context, it was first used in the 20th century to describe the sequence of reactions in a cell.

Related Terms

  • Metabolism: The set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main purposes of metabolism are the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes, the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates, and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes.
  • Enzyme: A protein that acts as a biological catalyst. Enzymes accelerate, or catalyze, chemical reactions.
  • Cell (biology): The basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life.
  • Molecule: A group of atoms bonded together, representing the smallest fundamental unit of a chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction.
  • Protein: A type of molecule in a cell that is coded by genes and performs many functions necessary for life.
  • Gene: A unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.

See Also

External links

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