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Lactate fuels the human brain during exercise.
Abstract
The human brain releases a small amount of lactate at rest, and even an increase in arterial blood lactate during anesthesia does not provoke a net cerebral lactate uptake. However, during cerebral activation associated with exercise involving a marked increase in plasma lactate, the brain takes up lactate in proportion to the arterial concentration. Cerebral lactate uptake, together with glucose uptake, is larger than the uptake accounted for by the concomitant O 2 uptake, as reflected by the decrease in cerebral metabolic ratio (CMR) [the cerebral molar uptake ratio O 2 /(glucose+½ lactate)] from a resting value of 6 to <2. The CMR also decreases when plasma lactate is not increased, as during prolonged exercise, cerebral activation associated with mental activity, or exposure to a stressful situation. The CMR decrease is prevented with combined β 1 ‐ and β 2 ‐adrenergic receptor blockade but not with β 1 ‐adrenergic blockade alone. Also, CMR decreases in response to epinephrine, suggesting that a β 2 ‐adrenergic receptor mechanism enhances glucose and perhaps lactate transport across the blood‐brain barrier. The pattern of CMR decrease under various forms of brain activation suggests that lactate may partially replace glucose as a substrate for oxidation. Thus, the notion of the human brain as an obligatory glucose consumer is not without exceptions.—Quistorff, B., Secher, N. H., and Van Lieshout, J. J. Lactate fuels the human brain during exercise. FASEB J. 22, 3443–3449 (2008)
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“peripheral blood lactate (e.g., from muscles) can cross the blood–brain barrier and provides energy to the brain”
From Dose-Response Matters! - A Perspective on the Exercise Prescription in Exercise-Cognition Research (2019) · cites this paper as Quistorff et al., 2008
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“In contrast, skeletal muscles tolerate O2 desaturation down to 10% (7).”
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“What seems to be equally important, especially in our experimental setup, is the transport of LA from the blood via monocarboxylate transporters to the brain (Quistorff et al., 2008).”
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“%) der Glukose wird in Lactat umgewandelt und exportiert (Quistorff et al., 2008), (iii) ~50 % des Energieverbrauchs im Referenzzustand entfällt auf die basalen Bedürfnisse der Zelle (für Proteinsynthese, Ouabain-insensitive Membrantransporte, usw.) und ~50 % des Energieverbrauches entfällt auf die…”
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Öberg, J. (2011) · Figshare
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“뇌조직에서 정신적인 활동이나 신체 움직임이 시작될 때 혐기적 대사가 커질 수 있다는 보고[33]와 같이, 황소개구리 뇌조직 LDH도 젖산에 대한 내성이 크게 나타났고, II의 LDH 활성도 높게 나타나 혐기적 대사 비율이 높게 확인되었다.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Quistorff, B., Secher, N. H., & Van Lieshout, J. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Department of Internal Medicine, Medium Care Unit University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
- Venue
- The FASEB Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-07-24
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3443-3449
- ISSN
- 0892-6638 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-6860
- OpenAlex
- W2141894573
- Cited by
- 262
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 0.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The FASEB Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- brain energy metabolism, physical activity, glucose oxidation, beta-adrenergic receptors, epinephrine, blood-brain barrier transport, brain glucose metabolism
- MeSH terms
- Anaerobiosis, Brain, Glucose, Humans, Oxygen, Exercise, Lactic Acid
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