HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Lactic Acid and Your Brain

Study 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 O2 uptake, as reflected by the decrease in cerebral metabolic ratio (CMR) [the cerebral molar uptake ratio O2/(glucose+ 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 β1- and β2-adrenergic receptor blockade but not with β1-adrenergic blockade alone. Also, CMR decreases in response to epinephrine, suggesting that a β2-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

From press release:

Alternative energy is all the rage in major media headlines, but for the human brain, this is old news. According to a study by researchers from Denmark and The Netherlands, the brain, just like muscles, works harder during strenuous exercise and is fueled by lactate, rather than glucose.

Not only does this finding help explain why the brain is able to work properly when the body's demands for fuel and oxygen are highest, but it goes a step further to show that the brain actually shifts into a higher gear in terms of activity. This opens doors to entirely new areas of brain research related to understanding lactate's specific neurological effects.

"Now that we know the brain can run on lactate, so to speak, future studies should show us when to use lactate as part of a treatment," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "From an evolutionary perspective, the result of this study is a no-brainer. Imagine what could have or did happen to all of the organisms that lost their wits along with their glucose when running from predators. They were obviously a light snack for the animals able to use lactate."

To reach their conclusion, the researchers looked at research that compared the blood running to and from the heads of volunteers undergoing strenuous exercise. They found that the blood on its way to the brain contained considerably more lactate than blood flowing from the brain. Further investigation showed that the brain was not storing the lactate which had come from the muscles during exercise, but rather using it as fuel. In fact, the brain helped to clear lactate from the circulation, thereby leaving glucose to the muscles that need it for the hard work they were performing.

Study Information

Bjørn Quistorff, Niels H. Secher, and Johannes J. Van Lieshout.
Lactate fuels the human brain during exercise.
The FASEB Journal.
2008 October
Laboratory for Clinical Cardiovascular Physiology, Center for Heart Failure Research, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.