TY - JOUR

T1 - Variable ATP yields and uncoupling of oxygen consumption in human brain

AU - Gjedde, Albert

AU - Aanerud, Joel

AU - Peterson, Ericka

AU - Ashkanian, Mahmoud

AU - Iversen, Peter

AU - Vafaee, Manoucher

AU - Møller, Peter Arne

AU - Borghammer, Per

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The distribution of brain oxidative metabolism values among healthy humans is astoundingly wide for a measure that reflects normal brain function and is known to change very little with most changes of brain function. It is possible that the part of the oxygen consumption rate that is coupled to ATP turnover is the same in all healthy human brains, with different degrees of uncoupling explaining the variability of total oxygen consumption among people. To test the hypothesis that about 75% of the average total oxygen consumption of human brains is common to all individuals, we determined the variability in a large group of normal healthy adults. To establish the degree of variability in different regions of the brain, we measured the regional cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen in 50 healthy volunteers aged 21-66 and projected the values to a common age of 25.Within each subject and region, we normalized the metabolic rate to the population average of that region. Coefficients of variation ranged from 10 to 15% in the different regions of the human brain and the normalized regional metabolic rates ranged from 70% to 140% of the population average for each region, equal to a two-fold variation. Thus the hypothetical threshold of oxygen metabolism coupled to ATP turnover in all subjects is no more than 70% of the average oxygen consumption of that population.

AB - The distribution of brain oxidative metabolism values among healthy humans is astoundingly wide for a measure that reflects normal brain function and is known to change very little with most changes of brain function. It is possible that the part of the oxygen consumption rate that is coupled to ATP turnover is the same in all healthy human brains, with different degrees of uncoupling explaining the variability of total oxygen consumption among people. To test the hypothesis that about 75% of the average total oxygen consumption of human brains is common to all individuals, we determined the variability in a large group of normal healthy adults. To establish the degree of variability in different regions of the brain, we measured the regional cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen in 50 healthy volunteers aged 21-66 and projected the values to a common age of 25.Within each subject and region, we normalized the metabolic rate to the population average of that region. Coefficients of variation ranged from 10 to 15% in the different regions of the human brain and the normalized regional metabolic rates ranged from 70% to 140% of the population average for each region, equal to a two-fold variation. Thus the hypothetical threshold of oxygen metabolism coupled to ATP turnover in all subjects is no more than 70% of the average oxygen consumption of that population.

KW - Adenosine Triphosphate

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Brain

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Oxygen

KW - Oxygen Consumption

KW - Positron-Emission Tomography

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1007/978-1-4419-7756-4_32

DO - 10.1007/978-1-4419-7756-4_32

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 21445793

VL - 701

SP - 243

EP - 248

JO - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

JF - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

SN - 0065-2598

ER -