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Ketosis and brain handling of glutamate, glutamine, and GABA
Author(s) -
Yudkoff Marc,
Daikhin Yevgeny,
Horyn Oksana,
Nissim Ilana,
Nissim Itzhak
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01841.x
Subject(s) - glutamate receptor , glutamine , neurotransmitter , neuroscience , ketogenic diet , metabotropic glutamate receptor 6 , chemistry , excitatory postsynaptic potential , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , metabotropic glutamate receptor , biology , biochemistry , central nervous system , amino acid , epilepsy , receptor
SummaryWe hypothesize that one mechanism of the anti‐epileptic effect of the ketogenic diet is to alter brain handling of glutamate. According to this formulation, in ketotic brain astrocyte metabolism is more active, resulting in enhanced conversion of glutamate to glutamine. This allows for: (a) more efficient removal of glutamate, the most important excitatory neurotransmitter; and (b) more efficient conversion of glutamine to GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter.