The brain is a tissue with a high energy consumption that mostly uses glucose as fuel. On the other hand, experimental data suggests that other metabolites like ketone bodies and monocarboxylates might be useful as energy sources. However, there is a still debate on which brain cells are the producers and primary consumers.
Lactate has been demonstrated to be a relevant metabolite in vertebrates to drive brain activity in vivo. Our group and others have shown in Drosophila the importance of monocarboxylate molecules to fuel the high energy requirements in neurons, as well as the need of glial-derived lactate and ketone bodies in memory formation. We have described monocarboxylate transporters in the Drosophila brain and determined that the transfer of lactate from glial cells to neurons is necessary to maintain the neural activity during high-demand periods.
The main advantage is to have the possibility to determine the intracellular dynamic of glucose and its metabolites, such as lactate, pyruvate, and ATB in glial cells and neurons during basal and high neural activity. Additionally, to measure the transfer of these molecules in other living tissues, such as the fat bodies. The use of the Drosophila as in vivo model for the study of brain energy metabolism using a simple setup.
This will allow the modeling of metabolic diseases or to better understand the energy management in the normal brain or during the development of neurodegenerative diseases.
