Cellular Respiration

This diagram demonstrates the process of cellular respiration.

Cellular respiration is a process for prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells to harvest energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Cellular respiration has three stages: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain. During glycolysis, oxygen is used for to glucose split into two molecules of pyruvic acid, two molecules of ATP, two molecules of NADH, and two molecules of water. During the citric acid cycle, or Krebs cycle, compounds called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are produced along with two molecules of ATP. These compounds are reduced and are capable of carrying high energy electrons to the next stage, electron transport. Protons pass through the membrane to the intermembrane space while electrons pass along the inside of the membrane through protein carriers until they combine with oxygen and produce ATP.