What’s the difference between Lactate and Lactic Acid?

Question

Or are they the same thing? Does your heart use both during the metabolic process? Or! If lactic acid is what you feel in the muscle due to lactate build up? How does this help with endurance during short and long high intensity workouts?

Thanks in advance

In: 2

Answer 1

In physiology they are the same thing. Lactic acid becomes lactate ion in solution by losing one proton.

In the body, lactic acid is produced during anaerobic cellular respiration, when it enters solution it is lactate. Muscle tissue uses up glucose to produce pyruvate which in turn is used to power the cells, and in the absence of enough oxygen, the byproduct is lactate. It is ten times more acidic than acetic acid (the acid compound in vinegar). Lactate can be metabolized back to pyruvate when oxygen is present and then used again for energy production.

I can’t really eli5 it any better.