In the 1940s, some physicians prescribed low doses of a drug called dinitrophenol (DNP) to help patients lose weight. This unsafe drug was quickly abandoned after a few patients died
DNP affects cells by uncoupling the chemiosmotic machinery and making the inner mitochondrial membrane "leaky" to hydrogen ions.
Explain how DNP caused weight loss and, ultimately, death in these dieters.
No hydrogen ion gradient could be established, so little ATP was produced through the process of cellular respiration. In turn, consumed (dietary) energy and stored (fat) energy were metabolized to try to give the body enough ATP to survive, but without success.
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