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. 1988 Nov;85(22):8727–8731. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.22.8727

Honeybee retinal glial cells transform glucose and supply the neurons with metabolic substrate.

M Tsacopoulos 1, V Evêquoz-Mercier 1, P Perrottet 1, E Buchner 1
PMCID: PMC282534  PMID: 3186756

Abstract

The retina of the honeybee drone is a nervous tissue in which glial cells and photoreceptor cells (sensory neurons) constitute two distinct metabolic compartments. Retinal slices incubated with 2-deoxy[3H]glucose convert this glucose analogue to 2-deoxy[3H]glucose 6-phosphate, but this conversion is made only in the glial cells. Hence, glycolysis occurs only in glial cells. In contrast, the neurons consume O2 and this consumption is sustained by the hydrolysis of glycogen, which is contained in large amounts in the glia. During photostimulation the increased oxidative metabolism of the neurons is sustained by a higher supply of carbohydrates from the glia. This clear case of metabolic interaction between neurons and glial cells supports Golgi's original hypothesis, proposed nearly 100 years ago, about the nutritive function of glial cells in the nervous system.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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