The process of transferring reducing equivalents from the cytosol into the mitochondria; NADH is used to synthesize malate in the cytosol; this compound is then transported into the mitochondria where it is converted to oxaloacetate using NADH, the oxaloacetate reacts with gluamate to form aspartate, and the aspartate then returns to the cytosol to complete the cycle.
malate/aspartate shuttle