Cotter DG, Schugar RC, Wentz AE, d'Avignon DA, Crawford PA. Successful adaptation to ketosis by mice with tissuespecific deficiency of ketone body oxidation. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 304: E363-E374, 2013. First published December 11, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00547.2012.-During states of low carbohydrate intake, mammalian ketone body metabolism transfers energy substrates originally derived from fatty acyl chains within the liver to extrahepatic organs. We previously demonstrated that the mitochondrial enzyme coenzyme A (CoA) transferase [succinyl-CoA:3-oxoacid CoA transferase (SCOT), encoded by nuclear Oxct1] is required for oxidation of ketone bodies and that germline SCOTknockout (KO) mice die within 48 h of birth because of hyperketonemic hypoglycemia. Here, we use novel transgenic and tissue-specific SCOT-KO mice to demonstrate that ketone bodies do not serve an obligate energetic role within highly ketolytic tissues during the ketogenic neonatal period or during starvation in the adult. Although transgene-mediated restoration of myocardial CoA transferase in germline SCOT-KO mice is insufficient to prevent lethal hyperketonemic hypoglycemia in the neonatal period, mice lacking CoA transferase selectively within neurons, cardiomyocytes, or skeletal myocytes are all viable as neonates. Like germline SCOT-KO neonatal mice, neonatal mice with neuronal CoA transferase deficiency exhibit increased cerebral glycolysis and glucose oxidation, and, while these neonatal mice exhibit modest hyperketonemia, they do not develop hypoglycemia. As adults, tissue-specific SCOT-KO mice tolerate starvation, exhibiting only modestly increased hyperketonemia. Finally, metabolic analysis of adult germline Oxct1 ϩ/Ϫ mice demonstrates that global diminution of ketone body oxidation yields hyperketonemia, but hypoglycemia emerges only during a protracted state of low carbohydrate intake. Together, these data suggest that, at the tissue level, ketone bodies are not a required energy substrate in the newborn period or during starvation, but rather that integrated ketone body metabolism mediates adaptation to ketogenic nutrient states.coenzyme A transferase; glucose homeostasis; ketone body metabolism; mouse models of ketolytic deficiency ADAPTATION TO LIMITED CARBOHYDRATE availability and increased fatty acid supply, as encountered during the initial transition to extrauterine life, starvation, and adherence to low-carbohydrate diets, requires shifts in metabolic substrate utilization (11,25,40,52). While many organs are poised to meet the bioenergetic demands imposed by fat-dominated energy economies, neurons do not effectively derive high-energy phosphates from fatty acids (16,71). Thus, provision of alternate fuel sources may be required to preserve bioenergetic homeostasis within some tissues when carbohydrates are limiting. Ketone body metabolism supports this function by oxidizing hepatic fatty acyl-coenzyme A species (acyl-CoAs) to water-soluble four-carbon ketone body intermediates (via ketogenesis) that are shared with...