Clinical review: Ketones and brain injury

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Author(s)
White, Hayden
Venkatesh, Balasubramanian
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2011
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Although much feared by clinicians, the ability to produce ketones has allowed humans to withstand prolonged periods of starvation. At such times, ketones can supply up to 50% of basal energy requirements. More interesting, however, is the fact that ketones can provide as much as 70% of the brain's energy needs, more effi ciently than glucose. Studies suggest that during times of acute brain injury, cerebral uptake of ketones increases signifi cantly. Researchers have thus attempted to attenuate the eff ects of cerebral injury by administering ketones exogenously. Hypertonic saline is commonly utilized for management ...
View more >Although much feared by clinicians, the ability to produce ketones has allowed humans to withstand prolonged periods of starvation. At such times, ketones can supply up to 50% of basal energy requirements. More interesting, however, is the fact that ketones can provide as much as 70% of the brain's energy needs, more effi ciently than glucose. Studies suggest that during times of acute brain injury, cerebral uptake of ketones increases signifi cantly. Researchers have thus attempted to attenuate the eff ects of cerebral injury by administering ketones exogenously. Hypertonic saline is commonly utilized for management of intracranial hypertension following cerebral injury. A solution containing both hypertonic saline and ketones may prove ideal for managing the dual problems of refractory intracranial hypertension and low cerebral energy levels. The purpose of the present review is to explore the physiology of ketone body utilization by the brain in health and in a variety of neurological conditions, and to discuss the potential for ketone supplementation as a therapeutic option in traumatic brain injury.
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View more >Although much feared by clinicians, the ability to produce ketones has allowed humans to withstand prolonged periods of starvation. At such times, ketones can supply up to 50% of basal energy requirements. More interesting, however, is the fact that ketones can provide as much as 70% of the brain's energy needs, more effi ciently than glucose. Studies suggest that during times of acute brain injury, cerebral uptake of ketones increases signifi cantly. Researchers have thus attempted to attenuate the eff ects of cerebral injury by administering ketones exogenously. Hypertonic saline is commonly utilized for management of intracranial hypertension following cerebral injury. A solution containing both hypertonic saline and ketones may prove ideal for managing the dual problems of refractory intracranial hypertension and low cerebral energy levels. The purpose of the present review is to explore the physiology of ketone body utilization by the brain in health and in a variety of neurological conditions, and to discuss the potential for ketone supplementation as a therapeutic option in traumatic brain injury.
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Journal Title
Critical Care
Volume
15
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2011 White et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Note
Page numbers are not for citation purposes. Instead, this article has the unique article number of 219.
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences