Final answer:
Cellular respiration stops after glycolysis if oxygen is not present because the subsequent stages of cellular respiration require oxygen to generate more ATP. Without oxygen, cells can undergo anaerobic respiration through fermentation, which produces much less ATP. Red blood cells, which lack mitochondria, rely on glycolysis for energy production, so if glycolysis were blocked, they would not be able to produce ATP.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cellular respiration always begins with glycolysis, which can occur either in the absence or presence of oxygen. However, if oxygen is not present, cellular respiration would stop after glycolysis. This is because the next stages of cellular respiration, such as the Krebs cycle and electron transport chain, require oxygen to generate more ATP.
In the absence of oxygen, cells can undergo anaerobic respiration to produce ATP. Anaerobic respiration involves fermentation, where pyruvate from glycolysis is converted to either ethyl alcohol (alcohol fermentation) or lactate (lactic acid fermentation). However, anaerobic respiration produces much less ATP compared to aerobic respiration.
In the case of red blood cells, they do not perform aerobic respiration but they do perform glycolysis. If glycolysis were blocked in a red blood cell, they would not be able to produce ATP and would not be able to carry out their functions. Red blood cells rely solely on glycolysis for energy production since they lack mitochondria, where the other stages of cellular respiration occur.