Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a new link between impaired brain energy metabolism and delirium – a disorienting and distressing disorder particularly common in the elderly and one that is currently occurring in a large proportion of patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
While much of the research was conducted in mice, additional work suggests overlapping mechanisms are at play in humans because cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from patients suffering from delirium also contained tell-tale markers of altered brain glucose metabolism. Collectively, the research, which has just been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that therapies focusing on brain energy metabolism may offer new routes to mitigating delirium.
Read more at: https://neurosciencenews.com/delirium-energy-metabolism-16641/