Utilization of energy nutrients by cerebellar slices

We performed an ontogenetic study about the utilization of glycine, glutamine, beta-hydroxybutyrate and glycerol as energy nutrients by rat cerebellum slices. Production of CO2 from glycerol and glutamine increased with the animals' age and glutamine was the most used nutrient for CO2 production. In adult age, glutamine oxidation to CO2 was 15 to 35 times higher than all other nutrients studied. CO2 production from glycine decreased markedly with age and 10 day-old rats showed an oxidation 7.5 times higher than that of adult rats. At fetal age and at 10 postnatal days, glycine oxidation to CO2 was only 2 times lower than glutamine oxidation to CO2. Lipid synthesis from beta-hydroxybutyrate was highest in adult rats. We did not observe any difference in the utilization of beta-hydroxybutyrate between slices of cerebral cortex and cerebellum at the ages of 10 days and adult. The main nutrients used for lipid synthesis were glycerol and beta-hydroxybutyrate.