Complex coordinated extracellular metabolism: Acid phosphatases activate diluted human leukocyte proteins to generate energy flow as NADPH from purine nucleotide ribose

• Extracellular metabolism occurs in dilute human leukocyte cytosolic protein solution.
• Extracellular metabolism is activated by acid phosphatases.
• Ribose5P salvage from purine nucleotides and its metabolism produces NADPH.
• Extracellular NADPH generating metabolism influences the redox environment.
• Extracellular metabolism could be a component of inflammation and wound healing.

Complex metabolism is thought to occur exclusively in the crowded intracellular environment. Here we report that diluted enzymes from lysed human leukocytes produce extracellular energy. Our findings involve two pathways: the purine nucleotide catabolic pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway, which function together to generate energy as NADPH. Glucose6P fuel for NADPH production is generated from structural ribose of purine ribonucleoside monophosphates, ADP, and ADP-ribose. NADPH drives glutathione reductase to reduce an oxidized glutathione disulfide-glutathione redox couple. Acid phosphatases initiate ribose5P salvage from purine ribonucleoside monophosphates, and transaldolase controls the direction of carbon chain flow through the nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway. These metabolic control points are regulated by pH. Biologically, this energy conserving metabolism could function in perturbed extracellular spaces.

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