Lactate as an oxidizable substrate for rat brain in vitro during the perinatal period.

Foetal brain slices showed a high capacity for lactate oxidation in vitro during late gestation. This capacity remained high during the very early postnatal period, suggesting that lactate may play an important role as an energy substrate in the brain during the early neonatal period. The capacity for lactate oxidation decreased markedly during the first 2 days of extra-uterine life and thereafter remained low.