PhD defence: Substrate utilization in the brain and skeletal muscle during environmental and energetic stress in humans

Test

Hannah Caldwell

PhD thesis

Metabolism describes the sum of biochemical reactions that take place within a living organism which provide energy for vital processes; this can be studied at the whole-body, organ specific, or cellular level. Energy availability, which is determined by the difference between energy intake and exercise energy expenditure, is affected by selected environmental and energetic stresses (e.g., high-altitude, exercise, diet/nutrition). Systemic energy deficits have implications for the regulation of organ-specific metabolism.

This thesis provides novel insights for integrative brain, skeletal muscle, and systemic substrate oxidation and relative fuel utilization in the context of environmental and energetic stress (e.g., high-altitude, exercise, nutritional caloric deficits).

Experiments included: metabolism in the brain in response to CO2; the brain’s inflammatory response to maximal exercise following 6-8 days of acclimatization at 3,800 m; and a diet intervention in females involving 14-days of effectively 50% caloric restriction while maintaining 8 hours of endurance training per week.

Download Abstract; Lay Summary; Preface; Table of Contents.

2023, 250 pages.

Time

29 August 2023, 10:00

Venue

Store Auditorium, Nørre Allé 53, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.

Opponents

Associate Professor Jesper Lundbye-Jensen (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor Jørgen Jensen, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway.

Professor Carsten Lundby, University of Lillehammer, Norway.

Main supervisor at UBCO

Professor Philip Ainslie, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Canada

Main supervisor at UCPH

Associate Professor Lasse Gliemann, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The thesis is available for inspection at the library, Nørre Allé 51, DK-2200 Copenhagen.