Brain Disease
Neurons use fat—not just sugar—for energy, study ties pathway to rare brain disorder
Heather Vogel Verificato
Researchers in Australia and Finland report that neurons can fuel themselves with fat as well as sugar, challenging long‑held assumptions about brain energy. The discovery, published in Nature Metabolism, links a lipid‑processing enzyme to a rare hereditary spastic paraplegia and suggests that targeted fatty acid supplements may restore cellular energy in laboratory models.