Energy Contribution of Octanoate to Intact Rat Brain Metabolism Measured by 13 C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Open accessAbstract
Glucose is the dominant oxidative fuel for brain, but studies have indicated that fatty acids are used by brain as well. We postulated that fatty acid oxidation in brain could contribute significantly to overall energy usage and account for non-glucose-derived energy production. [2,4,6,8- 13 C 4 ]octanoate oxidation in intact rats was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We found that oxidation of 13 C-octanoate in brain is avid and contributes ∼20% to total brain oxidative energy production. Labeling patterns of glutamate and glutamine were distinct, and analysis of these metabolites indicated compartmentalized oxidation of octanoate in brain. Examination of liver and blood spectra revealed that label from 13 C-octanoate was incorporated into glucose and ketones, which enabled calculation of its overall energy contribution to brain metabolism: glucose (predominantly unlabeled) and 13 C-labeled octanoate can account for the entire oxidative metabolism of brain. Additionally, flux through anaplerotic pathways relative to tricarboxylic acid cycle flux ( Y ) was calculated to be 0.08 ± 0.039 in brain, indicating that anaplerotic flux is significant and should be considered when assessing brain metabolism. Y was associated with the glutamine synthesis compartment, consistent with the view that anaplerotic flux occurs primarily in astrocytes.
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Fatty acid oxidation, predominantly in astrocytes, contributes approximately 20% of total brain energy supply.
“FA oxidation—predominantly in astrocytes—contributes ~20% of total brain energy supply (Ebert et al., 2003).”
From ApoE4 Impairs Neuron-Astrocyte Coupling of Fatty Acid Metabolism (2021) · cites this paper as Ebert et al., 2003
The Discussion reports that octanoate contributed approximately 20% of brain oxidative energy in intact rats and says the data support its oxidation in astrocytes. The claim generalizes that result to fatty acid oxidation and total brain energy supply without specifying the octanoate-infusion condition or rat population. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Ebert, D., Haller, R. G., & Walton, M. E.
- Affiliations
- Texas Health Dallas (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2003-07-02
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 5928-5935
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6741266
- OpenAlex
- W2126068729
- Cited by
- 427
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 1.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Lipid metabolism and biosynthesis
- Keywords
- octanoate, fatty acid oxidation, brain energy metabolism, 13C-labeled fatty acids, glutamate, glutamine, TCA cycle, astrocytes, ketone bodies, glucose metabolism, rat brain
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Aspartic Acid, Brain, Brain Chemistry, Caprylates, Carbon Isotopes, Energy Metabolism, Glucose, Glutamine, Ketones, Liver, Male, Models, Biological, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Glutamic Acid, Rats
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