Similarities Between Fermentation And Cellular Respiration

Fermentation and cellular respiration are alike in that they both begin with a series of reactions known as glycolysis, which breaks glucose molecules into smaller pyruvate molecules. They are also similar in that during both processes, ATP is produced for the cell to use. The different between these two processes is fermentation does not require oxygen while cellular respiration does. Fermentation and cellular respiration are also different because water molecules are not produced during fermentation but are produced during cellular respiration. All fermentation reactions occur in the cell's cytoplasm but during cellular respiration, only glycolysis occurs in the cytoplasm. Lastly, fermentation produces a net gain of 2 ATPs while cellular respiration produces a net gain of 32 ATPs. When your muscles can't get enough oxygen during a short burst of exercise, they start to make use of a pathway called lactic acid fermentation, which generates a small three-carbon compound called lactic acid or lactate as a by-product of glucose breakdown. Lactic acid is not useful to your muscle cells, but your liver turns it back into glucose later after exercise.

The product lactic acid, which was supposed to arise from the same labile molecular complex, has been variously regarded either as another final product, or as an intermediate product destined possibly to be used in future reconstruction of the in-oxygen complex, or again as marking only a stage of incomplete combustion due to insufficient oxygen