ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2003
GABA uptake into astrocytes is not associated with significant metabolic cost: implications for brain imaging of inhibitory transmission.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 179 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain Mass (Energy) Resistant to Hyperglycaemic Oversupply: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of voluntary repetitive long-lasting muscle contraction activity on the BOLD signal as assessed by optimal hemodynamic response function.Magma (New York, N.Y.) · 2014Trial
- Hypothalamic Astrocytes Exhibit Glycolytic Features Making Them Prone for Glucose Sensing.Glia · 2025Article
- A Bird's-Eye View of Glycolytic Upregulation in Activated Brain: The Major Fate of Lactate Is Release From Activated Tissue, Not Shuttling to Nearby Neurons.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Fueling Brain Inhibition: Integrating GABAergic Neurotransmission and Energy Metabolism.Neurochemical research · 2025Review
- Astrocyte metabolism and signaling pathways in the CNS.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- GABA Release from Astrocytes in Health and Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Energy Metabolism in the Inner Retina in Health and Glaucoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- GABAergic Inhibition of Spinal Cord Dorsal Horns Contributes to Analgesic Effect of Electroacupuncture in Incisional Neck Pain Rats.Journal of pain research · 2020Article
- Sodium Fluctuations in Astroglia and Their Potential Impact on Astrocyte Function.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Review
- Spontaneous Ultraslow NaCells · 2019Article
- The Response to Stimulation in Neurons and Astrocytes.Neurochemical research · 2019Review
- Physiology of Astroglia.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2019Review
- The Strategic Location of Glycogen and Lactate: From Body Energy Reserve to Brain Plasticity.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2019Article
- Basal fatty acid oxidation increases after recurrent low glucose in human primary astrocytes.Diabetologia · 2019Article
- Glycolytic inhibition: A novel approach toward controlling neuronal excitability and seizures.Epilepsia open · 2018Article
- Subthalamic nucleus pathology contributes to repetitive behavior expression and is reversed by environmental enrichment.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2018Article
- Lactate in the brain: from metabolic end-product to signalling molecule.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2018Review
- Functional Astrocyte Heterogeneity and Implications for Their Role in Shaping Neurotransmission.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2018Review
- Impaired Autophagy of GABAergic Interneurons in Neuropathic Pain.Pain research & management · 2018Review
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Synaptically released glutamate has been identified as a signal coupling excitatory neuronal activity to increased glucose utilization. The proposed mechanism of this coupling involves glutamate uptake into astrocytes resulting in increased intracellular Na+ (Nai+) and activation of the Na+/K+-ATPase. Increased metabolic demand linked to disruption of Nai+ homeostasis activates glucose uptake and glycolysis in astrocytes. Here, we have examined whether a similar neurometabolic coupling could operate for the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), also taken up by Na+-dependent transporters into astrocytes. Thus, we have compared the Nai+ response to GABA and glutamate in mouse astrocytes by microspectrofluorimetry. The Nai+ response to GABA consisted of a rapid rise of 4-6 mM followed by a plateau that did not, however, significantly activate the pump. Indeed, the GABA transporter-evoked Na+ influxes are transient in nature, almost totally shutting off within approximately 30 sec of GABA application. The metabolic consequences of the GABA-induced Nai+ response were evaluated by monitoring cellular ATP changes indirectly in single cells and measuring 2-deoxyglucose uptake in astrocyte populations. Both approaches showed that, whereas glutamate induced a robust metabolic response in astrocytes (decreased ATP levels and glucose uptake stimulation), GABA did not cause any measurable metabolic response, consistent with the Nai+ measurements. Results indicate that GABA does not couple inhibitory neuronal activity with glucose utilization, as does glutamate for excitatory neurotransmission, and suggest that GABA-mediated synaptic transmission does not contribute directly to brain imaging signals based on deoxyglucose.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.