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Brain Energy Metabolism

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

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Definition

The brain is an organ of great complexity, whose mystique is tightly guarded by several protecting layers, from the physical armor of the skull to the biochemical border of the blood–brain barrier. What fuels the brain to sustain a range of neurophysiological states is a question of great importance not only to advance our insight on how brain functions, but also to shed some light on how to treat patients with neurological and psychiatric conditions.

The electrophysiological activity of the brain, usually measured in terms of frequency of neuronal firing, is a process which cannot be sustained unless the underlying metabolism is able to provide the energy required for the process of depolarization and subsequent repolarization to take place, including the supporting role of glial cells. In this chapter, we give an overview of the modeling of brain energy metabolism and how it can be coupled to models for electrophysiological and cerebrovascular dynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Daniela Calvetti & Erkki Somersalo

Authors
  1. Daniela Calvetti
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  2. Erkki Somersalo
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Correspondence to Daniela Calvetti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, GA, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Ranu Jung

Section Editor information

  1. Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    William W. Lytton MD

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Adam John Hunter Newton

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Calvetti, D., Somersalo, E. (2019). Brain Energy Metabolism. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_100673-1

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