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Name: Jessica J Tan
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Question:
What are the end products of cellular respiration?


Replies:
Mostly carbon dioxide, which must be expelled through the lungs. In mammals, the most powerful trigger causing you to breathe is the build-up of CO2 in the blood. (That's what triggers the first breath in a newborn baby which has just had its oxygen supply from the placenta cut off.) The other toxic end product of metabolism in general is ammonia, which comes from the breakdown of amino acid, which contain nitrogen. This is handled in different ways by different animals. In humans, it is converted into urea in the liver and expelled in the urine.

--ProfBill


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