[Part 1 of 2]
This is inspired by this video presentation:
Robert Sapolsky: Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences
Scrolling to minute 26 of the video, reveals a slide summarizing the results of an experiment, where neural tissue was exposed to an "insult" (damage cause) equivalent to hypoglycemia.
The degree of damage to the neurons was asessed in volume units (vertical) while the 4 cases are represented by color bars:
green - damage caused solely by the original "insult"
yellow - damage caused by the "insult" in the presence of glucocorticoid (stress hormone)
red - damage caused by the "insult" in the presence of glucocorticoids and mannose sugar
white - damage caused by the "insult" in the presence of glucocorticoids and ketone bodies (beta-hydroxy-butyrate)
What do I make out of that? Basically, it shows that not only ketone bodies work better as the energy source than mannose sugar, but also protect against the damage caused by both factors combined: hypoglycemia and glucocorticoid: - the white bar is smaller than the original green bar on the left!
[part 2 essay inspired by the same video will be titled "Lack of social skills made us human!" ]
