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Non-signalling energy use in the developing rat brain

Version 2 2023-06-12, 06:39
Version 1 2023-06-09, 01:21
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 06:39 authored by Elisabeth Engl, Renaud Jolivet, Catherine HallCatherine Hall, David Attwell
Energy use in the brain constrains its information processing power, but only about half the brain's energy consumption is directly related to information processing. Evidence for which non-signalling processes consume the rest of the brain's energy has been scarce. For the first time, we investigated the energy use of the brain's main non-signalling tasks with a single method. After blocking each non-signalling process, we measured oxygen level changes in juvenile rat brain slices with an oxygen-sensing microelectrode and calculated changes in oxygen consumption throughout the slice using a modified diffusion equation. We found that the turnover of the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton, followed by lipid synthesis, are significant energy drains, contributing 25%, 22% and 18%, respectively, to the rate of oxygen consumption. In contrast, protein synthesis is energetically inexpensive. We assess how these estimates of energy expenditure relate to brain energy use in vivo, and how they might differ in the mature brain.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism

ISSN

0271-678X

Publisher

SAGE

Issue

3

Volume

37

Page range

951-966

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-05-24

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-05-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-05-24

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