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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Mar 22.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2014 Sep 22;90(3):927–963. doi: 10.1111/brv.12140

Fig. 7.

Fig. 7

The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) in neuronal energy metabolism. Schematic representation of glucose metabolism in neurons (left) and astrocytes (right). Metabolic regulators differentially expressed between neurons and astrocytes are highlighted. Summarized is evidence that astrocytes ferment glucose to lactate which is secreted aside GSH into the intracellular space. Neurons then uptake lactate and GSH; lactate is then converted to pyruvate and enters the tricarboxylic acid cycle to generate ATP over the respiratory chain. Abbreviations: as in Table 1; GSH, glutathione; GSSG, glutathione disulfide; GLUT, glucose transporters; GR, glutathione reductase; GPx, glutathione peroxidase; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; MCT, monocarboxylate transporter.