Skip to main content
. 2013 Feb 8;304(8):H1060–H1076. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00646.2012

Table 1.

Implications of ketone body metabolism

  1. Metabolic and bioenergetic fates of ketone bodies

    1. Hepatic ketogenesis: spillover pathway for β-oxidation-derived acetyl-CoA (Figs. 1 and 2)

    2. Oxidation (Figs. 1 and 5)

      1. Improves P-to-O ratio (energetic efficiency)

      2. Diminishes ROS production and influences redox potential

      3. Substrate competition: favored over fatty acids

    3. DNL and sterol synthesis (Figs. 1 and 3)

    4. Ketogenic flux through CoA transferase (Fig. 3), generating a citrate synthase-independent DNL substrate

  2. Signaling roles of ketone bodies

    1. GPCR

      1. GPR109A

      2. GPR41 (?)

    2. Membrane excitability

    3. HDAC-dependent regulation of mediators of the response to oxidative stress: ligand versus metabolism-dependent effects

P-to-O ratio, ATP yielded per oxygen invested; ROS, reactive oxygen species; DNL, de novo lipogenesis; GPCR, G protein-coupled receptor; GPR109A, GPCR 109A; HDAC, histone deacetylase.