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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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The Science and Translation of Lactate Shuttle Theory
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“, 1981, 1988), brain (Glenn et al., 2015b; Quistorff et al., 2008; van Hall et al., 2009), liver and kidneys (Bergman et al.”
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“We observed an accumulation of cellular and extracellular brain lactate during artificially increased blood lactate levels, which indicate a net uptake under these conditions and is in agreement with findings in humans (Boumezbeur et al., 2010; Quistorff et al., 2008; Rasmussen et al., 2011).”
Result
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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