Strategies for the supply of lipid substrates during post-natal brain development: a tale of two tissues.
In the suckling neonate the source of lipid and other substrates for brain development is the mother's milk. The lactating mammary gland is a highly versatile organ which is able to utilize a range of substrates for milk lipid production including glucose and ketone bodies (for de novo synthesis), triacylglycerols and non-esterified fatty acids. The composition of the milk lipid alters with changes in the substrates available to the mammary gland. The neonate has to process the milk triacylglycerols to forms (ketone bodies, medium-chain fatty acids) more suitable for extraction by the developing brain. The strategies employed to allow this flexibility in the lactating rat and its offspring are discussed.
Williamson
D H
DH
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK.
Lund
P
P
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism*