Seminar

Lactate and its metabolism

George Brooks

Dr. George Brooks is the world's leading authority on lactate and its metabolism. He has dedicated 53 years at the University of California, Berkeley, to studying lactate, and thanks to his disruptive research methods and discoveries, we now know a great deal about the role of lactate in health and disease. Dr. Brooks' work has had and continues to have significant implications, ranging from the field of exercise physiology to various diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Summary: Lactate, traditionally considered a waste product due to muscle fatigue and anaerobic metabolism, has multiple important functions in human metabolism with significant relevance to health and disease. Lactate, the end product of glycolysis, is a signalling molecule with important endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine properties. Through exercise, lactate is released and serves as a crucial signalling molecule for cellular homeostasis, neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and various physiological events. Additionally, it is the preferred fuel for cells both at rest and during exercise. However, when lactate accumulates in a dysregulated manner at the cellular level, it becomes a mediator of various pathological processes involved in cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease.