Affiliations 

  • 1 Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas (ININFA), Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 2 Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, and Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  • 3 Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • 4 Department of Medicine, University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (HUKM), Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 6 Manovikas Kendra, Kolkata, India
  • 7 Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
  • 8 Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
  • 9 Centre for Biomolecular Interactions, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 10 Neurobiology Section, Biological Sciences Division, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
  • 11 Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 12 Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
  • 13 BITS Pilani, Pilani, India
  • 14 CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India
  • 15 Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
  • 16 Brain Growth and Disease Laboratory, The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
  • 17 Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
  • 18 Defense Institute of Physiology and allied sciences, Defense Research and Development Organization, Timarpur, Delhi, India
  • 19 Department of Pharmacology, JSS college of Pharmacy, Ooty, India
  • 20 Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  • 21 Department of Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
  • 22 The Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
  • 23 CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India
  • 24 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 25 Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
  • 26 Department of Pharmacy, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India
  • 27 Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), Medical School, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
  • 28 Department of Pharmacy, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India
  • 29 School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 30 Institute of environmental medicine, UNIKA-T, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
  • 31 Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
J Neurochem, 2019 10;151(2):139-165.
PMID: 31318452 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.14829

Abstract

The past 20 years have resulted in unprecedented progress in understanding brain energy metabolism and its role in health and disease. In this review, which was initiated at the 14th International Society for Neurochemistry Advanced School, we address the basic concepts of brain energy metabolism and approach the question of why the brain has high energy expenditure. Our review illustrates that the vertebrate brain has a high need for energy because of the high number of neurons and the need to maintain a delicate interplay between energy metabolism, neurotransmission, and plasticity. Disturbances to the energetic balance, to mitochondria quality control or to glia-neuron metabolic interaction may lead to brain circuit malfunction or even severe disorders of the CNS. We cover neuronal energy consumption in neural transmission and basic ('housekeeping') cellular processes. Additionally, we describe the most common (glucose) and alternative sources of energy namely glutamate, lactate, ketone bodies, and medium chain fatty acids. We discuss the multifaceted role of non-neuronal cells in the transport of energy substrates from circulation (pericytes and astrocytes) and in the supply (astrocytes and microglia) and usage of different energy fuels. Finally, we address pathological consequences of disrupted energy homeostasis in the CNS.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.