Fig. 2.

Glucose (Glc) from the vasculature is metabolised to lactate (Lac) in astrocytes, exported into the extra-cellular fluid, taken up by neurons and processed (via pyruvate (Pyr) and acetate (Ac)) by the TCA cycle. This spins off glutamate (Glt), which is released and then taken up by astrocytes, which convert it to glutamine (Gln), which is released into the extra-cellular fluid and taken up by neurons, which re-convert it to glutamate (Gallagher et al., 2009). Figure originally published in Brain (Gallagher et al., 2009).