Lactate supply overtakes glucose when neural computational and cognitive loads scale up.

ABSTRACT: Neural computational power is determined by neuroenergetics, but how and which energy substrates are allocated to various forms of memory engram is unclear. To solve this question, we asked whether neuronal fueling by glucose or lactate scales differently upon increasing neural computation and cognitive loads. Here, using electrophysiology, two-photon imaging, cognitive tasks, and mathematical modeling, we show that both glucose and lactate are involved in engram formation, with lactate supporting long-term synaptic plasticity evoked by high-stimulation load activity patterns and high attentional load in cognitive tasks and glucose being sufficient for less demanding neural computation and learning tasks. Indeed, we show that lactate is mandatory for demanding neural computation, such as t

SUBMITTER: Dembitskaya Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9704697 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature