Peters Achim, Kubera Britta, Hubold Christian, Langemann Dirk
Medical Clinic 1, University of Luebeck Luebeck, Germany.
Front Neurosci. 2011 May 30;5:74. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2011.00074. eCollection 2011.
The brain occupies a special hierarchical position in human energy metabolism. If cerebral homeostasis is threatened, the brain behaves in a "selfish" manner by competing for energy resources with the body. Here we present a logistic approach, which is based on the principles of supply and demand known from economics. In this "cerebral supply chain" model, the brain constitutes the final consumer. In order to illustrate the operating mode of the cerebral supply chain, we take experimental data which allow assessing the supply, demand and need of the brain under conditions of psychosocial stress. The experimental results show that the brain under conditions of psychosocial stress actively demands energy from the body, in order to cover its increased energy needs. The data demonstrate that the stressed brain uses a mechanism referred to as "cerebral insulin suppression" to limit glucose fluxes into peripheral tissue (muscle, fat) and to enhance cerebral glucose supply. Furthermore psychosocial stress elicits a marked increase in eating behavior in the post-stress phase. Subjects ingested more carbohydrates without any preference for sweet ingredients. These experimentally observed changes of cerebral demand, supply and need are integrated into a logistic framework describing the supply chain of the selfish brain.
大脑在人体能量代谢中占据特殊的层级地位。如果大脑的内环境稳态受到威胁，它会通过与身体争夺能量资源的方式表现出“自私”行为。在此，我们提出一种基于经济学中供求原理的逻辑方法。在这个“大脑供应链”模型中，大脑构成最终消费者。为了阐明大脑供应链的运作模式，我们采用了实验数据，这些数据能够评估心理社会压力条件下大脑的供应、需求和需求情况。实验结果表明，处于心理社会压力条件下的大脑会积极地从身体获取能量，以满足其增加的能量需求。数据显示，处于压力下的大脑会利用一种被称为“大脑胰岛素抑制”的机制来限制葡萄糖流入外周组织（肌肉、脂肪），并增加大脑的葡萄糖供应。此外，心理社会压力会在压力后阶段引发进食行为的显著增加。受试者摄入了更多碳水化合物，且对甜味成分没有偏好。这些通过实验观察到的大脑需求、供应和需求的变化被整合到一个描述自私大脑供应链的逻辑框架中。
