Researchers at the Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai, China have provided evidence that the evolution of metabolism in the thinking and learning parts of our brains has gone much further than in our “primitive” cerebellum, says researcher Philipp Khaitovich.

Khaitovich and colleagues analyzed brain tissue from deceased humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques to study the concentrations of 100 chemicals linked with metabolism. In the human prefrontal cortex, the levels of 24 of these were drastically different from levels in the corresponding brain regions of the other primates. In the cerebellum, however, there were far fewer differences between humans and the other animals, with just six chemicals showing different concentrations.

The comparison confirms the key role played in human thought by glutamate, a chemical that energizes brain cells. As the main excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate is responsible for virtually every possible cognitive task, including learning and memory, says Khaitovich.