Analysis of Development Edited by Prof Benjamin H Willier, Prof Paul A Weiss and Prof Viktor Hamburger Pp xii + 735 (Philadelphia and London: W B Saunders Company, 1955) 105s

Mechanisms of Development

Lactate in the brain has long been associated with ischaemia; however, more recent evidence shows that it can be found there under physiological conditions. In the brain, lactate is formed predominantly in astrocytes from glucose or glycogen in response to neuronal activity signals. Thus, neurons and astrocytes show tight metabolic coupling. Lactate is transferred from astrocytes to neurons to match the neuronal energetic needs, and to provide signals that modulate neuronal functions, including excitability, plasticity and memory consolidation. In addition, lactate affects several homeostatic functions. Overall, lactate ensures adequate energy supply, modulates neuronal excitability levels and regulates adaptive functions in order to set the 'homeostatic tone' of the nervous system.

Lactate in the brain: from metabolic end-product to signalling molecule

Brain energy metabolism

The Glia-Neuron Lactate Shuttle and Elevated ROS Promote Lipid Synthesis in Neurons and Lipid Droplet Accumulation in Glia via APOE/D

The gastrointestinal tract has recently come to the forefront of multiple research fields. It is now recognized as a major source of signals modulating food intake, insulin secretion and energy balance. It is also a key player in immunity and, through its interaction with microbiota, can shape our physiology and behavior in complex and sometimes unexpected ways. The insect intestine had remained, by comparison, relatively unexplored until the identification of adult somatic stem cells in the Drosophila intestine over a decade ago. Since then, a growing scientific community has exploited the genetic amenability of this insect organ in powerful and creative ways. By doing so, we have shed light on a broad range of biological questions revolving around stem cells and their niches, interorgan signaling and immunity. Despite their relatively recent discovery, some of the mechanisms active in the intestine of flies have already been shown to be more widely applicable to other gastrointestinal systems, and may therefore become relevant in the context of human pathologies such as gastrointestinal cancers, aging, or obesity. This review summarizes our current knowledge of both the formation and function of the Drosophila melanogaster digestive tract, with a major focus on its main digestive/absorptive portion: the strikingly adaptable adult midgut.

https://www.genetics.org/content/genetics/210/2/357.full.pdf

Anatomy and Physiology of the Digestive Tract of Drosophila melanogaster

Glial Glycolysis Is Essential for Neuronal Survival in Drosophila

Enterocyte Purge and Rapid Recovery Is a Resilience Reaction of the Gut Epithelium to Pore-Forming Toxin Attack

Live imaging using a FRET glucose sensor reveals glucose delivery to all cell types in the Drosophila brain.

Neuronal activity requires a vast amount of energy. Energy use in the brain is spatially and temporally dynamic, which reflects the changing activity of the neuronal circuits and might be important for modulating neuronal output. Much recent work has focused on understanding how brain glial cells take up nutrients from circulation and subsequently provide metabolic precursors to neurons. However, within the neurons, modulation of cellular metabolic pathway flux also regulates excitability and signaling. A coherent understanding of the links between energy availability and metabolism, neural signaling, and higher-level phenotypes like behavior requires a synthesis of the understanding of glial and neuronal metabolic dynamics. In the current review, we address this synthesis in the context of insect brain metabolism. Insects not only show evidence of a metabolic division of labor and plasticity in neural metabolism that closely resembles that observed in vertebrate species, there also seem to be direct links between brain metabolic dynamics and behavioral phenotypes. We summarize the current knowledge about the metabolic fuels available to the insect nervous system and how they are transported and distributed to the different neural cell types. We discuss the possibility of an ANLS-like metabolic division of labor between glial cells and neurons, and how it is regulated. We then discuss plasticity in flux through energy metabolic pathways in neurons, how flux is regulated, and how it influences neural signaling. We end by discussing how metabolic dynamics in the glia and neurons may interact to impact signaling.

Insect models of central nervous system energy metabolism and its links to behavior.

Animals are able to move and react in manifold ways to external stimuli. Thus, environmental stimuli need to be detected, information must be processed, and, finally, an output decision must be transmitted to the musculature to get the animal moving. All these processes depend on the nervous system which comprises an intricate neuronal network and many glial cells. Glial cells have an equally important contribution in nervous system function as their neuronal counterpart. Manifold roles are attributed to glia ranging from controlling neuronal cell number and axonal pathfinding to regulation of synapse formation, function, and plasticity. Glial cells metabolically support neurons and contribute to the blood-brain barrier. All of the aforementioned aspects require extensive cell-cell interactions between neurons and glial cells. Not surprisingly, many of these processes are found in all phyla executed by evolutionarily conserved molecules. Here, we review the recent advance in understanding neuron-glia interaction in Drosophila melanogaster to suggest that work in simple model organisms will shed light on the function of mammalian glial cells, too.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/dneu.22737

Stefanie Schirmeier

Papers

Glial Glycolysis Is Essential for Neuronal Survival in Drosophila

Enterocyte Purge and Rapid Recovery Is a Resilience Reaction of the Gut Epithelium to Pore-Forming Toxin Attack

Live imaging using a FRET glucose sensor reveals glucose delivery to all cell types in the Drosophila brain.

Insect models of central nervous system energy metabolism and its links to behavior.

Neuron-glia interaction in the Drosophila nervous system.