Ketone bodies infants

Settergren, G., Lindblad, B. S. and Persson, B. Cerebral blood flow and exchange of oxygen, glucose, ketone bodies, lactate, pyruvate and amino acids in infants. Acta Paediatr. 

The cerebral requirement for oxidative substrate can be met by only two substrates glucose and ketone bodies. Unfortunately, the endocrine milieu of the infant of the diabetic mother inhibits both lipolysis (i.e., the mobilization of fatty acid stores) and hepatic ketogene-... 

Bougneres, P. R, Lemmeil, C., Ferre, P, and Bier, D. M. (1986). Ketone body transport in the human neonate and infant. /. Clin. Invest. Tl, 42-48. 

Kraus H, Schlenker S, Schwedesky D. Developmental changes of cerebral ketone body utilization in human infants. Hoppe-Seyler s Zeitschr Physiol Chem 1974 355 164—170. 

The ability to maintain glucose homeostasis during the first few days of life also depends on the activation of gluconeogenesis and the mobilization of fatty acids. Fatty acid oxidation in the liver not only promotes gluconeogenesis (see Chapter 31) but generates ketone bodies. The neonatal brain has an enhanced capacity to use ketone bodies relative to that of infants (fourfold) and adults (40-fold). This ability is consistent with the relatively high fat content of breast milk. 

For several hours after birth, premature infants are particularly susceptible to hypoglycemia and are also unable to rapidly generate ketone bodies. Describe how each of the characteristics below would contribute to hypoglycemia, low circulating levels of ketone bodies, or both. 

Ttoh and Quastel (1970) have shown that slices of brain of infant rats utilize ketone bodies more rapidly than slices from adult brain. Tt is already known (Klee and Sokoloff, 1967) that 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase activity is higher in the brain of infant rats than of adults, and declines after weaning. 

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