Abstract
Glucose is the predominant cerebral fuel energy under physiologic conditions although other substrates may support the cerebral metabolism. The present study was undertaken to determine 1) whether lactate is present in the immature human brain, and if so 2) whether concentrations of lactate differ between infants who are light-for-gestational-age (LGA) or appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA). Twenty-one stable and healthy infants with normal brains were investigated. All received milk enterally, and they had normal blood glucose levels. The gestational age averaged 36 completed weeks (range 28-41), and mean birth weight was 2350 g (range 855-4100). Proton NMR spectra from corpus striatum were obtained while the infants were sleeping quietly. Lactate was present in 8 preterm LGA and 3 preterm AGA infants, and the concentration was inversely related to the post-menstrual age (P=0.0043). Thus, lactate could not be demonstrated in infants with a post-menstrual age above 40 weeks. The lactate concentration was identical among LGA and AGA infants (P=0.15). Apparently, the immature brain consumes lactate, and the preferential substrate utilisation changes gradually with increasing age.
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H, L., P, T., O, P. et al. BRAIN LACTATE INCREASED WITH IMMATURITY OF HEALTHY NEONATES. Pediatr Res 35, 276 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199402000-00131
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199402000-00131