membrane uncoupling agents the rest of the group agrees with your conclusion that dr. tamm was likely exposed to a membrane uncoupling agent. uncoupling agents allow protons to cross the inner membrane of the mitochondria, down their concentration gradient, without passing through atp synthase. consider that each respiring cell has a need for a certain amount of atp, but in the presence of a membrane uncoupling agent, the proton gradient that is generated by the etc is being partially dissipated without any atp being made. how do you think the activity of other metabolic pathways might change in response? note that every stage of glucose catabolism is still occurring. for example, co2 is still being generated by the pyruvate dehydrogenase, or pdh, complex and the citric acid cycle, but less atp is being generated for each molecule of pyruvate used. categorize each rate based on whether it would increase or decrease in the presence of a membrane uncoupling agent. note: please read through the entire solution for the conclusion of this case.