Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

Kuzawa, Christopher W.; Chugani, Harry T.; Grossman, Lawrence I.; Lipovich, Leonard; Muzik, Otto; Hof, Patrick R.; Wildman, Derek E.; Sherwood, Chet C.; Leonard, William R.; Lange, Nicholas

doi:10.1073/pnas.1323099111

articleProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesAug 25, 2014BRONZE OA

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

CWChristopher W. Kuzawa HTHarry T. Chugani LILawrence I. Grossman LLLeonard Lipovich OMOtto Muzik

Northwestern University · Museum of Indian Arts and Culture · +10 more institutions

PubMed

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Abstract

The high energetic costs of human brain development have been hypothesized to explain distinctive human traits, including exceptionally slow and protracted preadult growth. Although widely assumed to constrain life-history evolution, the metabolic requirements of the growing human brain are unknown. We combined previously collected PET and MRI data to calculate the human brain's glucose use from birth to adulthood, which we compare with body growth rate. We evaluate the strength of brain-body metabolic trade-offs using the ratios of brain glucose uptake to the body's resting metabolic rate (RMR) and daily energy requirements (DER) expressed in glucose-gram equivalents (glucosermr% and glucoseder%). We find…

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Keywords

Brain development
Human brain
Brain size
Biology
Endocrinology
Internal medicine
Neuroscience
Medicine

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