1. Near-critical GLUT1 and Neurodegeneration
- Author
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Karin Alegría, Felipe Baeza-Lehnert, Alex Galaz, Yasna Contreras-Baeza, L. Felipe Barros, Iván Ruminot, Ignacio Fernández-Moncada, Alejandro San Martín, Francisca Cortés-Molina, Pamela Y. Sandoval, and Robinson Arce-Molina
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Neurodegeneration ,Glucose transporter ,Biology ,medicine.disease ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,medicine ,biology.protein ,GLUT1 ,Alzheimer's disease ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Function (biology) ,Glucose Transporter Type 1 ,GLUT3 ,Astrocyte - Abstract
Recent articles have drawn renewed attention to the housekeeping glucose transporter GLUT1 and its possible involvement in neurodegenerative diseases. Here we provide an updated analysis of brain glucose transport and the cellular mechanisms involved in its acute modulation during synaptic activity. We discuss how the architecture of the blood-brain barrier and the low concentration of glucose within neurons combine to make endothelial/glial GLUT1 the master controller of neuronal glucose utilization, while the regulatory role of the neuronal glucose transporter GLUT3 emerges as secondary. The near-critical condition of glucose dynamics in the brain suggests that subtle deficits in GLUT1 function or its activity-dependent control by neurons may contribute to neurodegeneration. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Published
- 2017
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