This isn't a homework question, just something I've been curious about. I'm not enrolled in any biology course.
When there is an interruption in the supply of O2 or organic fuel molecules to our cells (or an interruption in both, such as when blood flow is interrupted), it's obvious that cellular respiration will have to cease as the process runs on O2 and organic fuel.
Thus, whatever ATP a cell already has should be fairly quickly depleted, and cellular activity will cease.
But why does this lead to our death? Why doesn't this lack of ATP (and consequent lack of the cell to be able to DO anything) simply lead to some kind of stasis? Rather than irreversible tissue damage and/or death of the organism, why don't we simply see a situation where muscles can't contract, nerves can't fire due to loss of Na/K-ATPase pump, etc...but with the possibility of recover once the supply of O2 and fuel is restored? Most machines seem to work this way...when I unplug my computer from it's power supply, it doesn't cause permanent damage to its circuits!
In other words, there must be at least some cellular functions that need to be done
without interruption in order to avoid permanent damage to the cells, leading to the death of the organism...What cellular functions are like these? Is it that the proteins or other components start to break down, perhaps without some kind of ATP-powered enzymatic maintenance going on?
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