Characteristics of Cardiac Ketone Body Metabolism Throughout the Life Cycle

Ketone bodies can serve as energy substrates for the heart and perform important molecular signal transduction functions. In recent years, the therapeutic potential of ketone bodies has become a research hotspot in the field of cardiovascular diseases. Many previous reviews have focused on ketone bodies from the perspective of cardiovascular diseases, especially heart failure. Nonetheless, the metabolism of cardiac ketone bodies under physiological conditions also warrants attention, as the consumption of a ketogenic diet or direct supplementation of ketone bodies from exogenous sources has become widely popular among healthy individuals for weight loss. Furthermore, recent clinical studies have shown that under physiological conditions, the level of ketone bodies is positively correlated with the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and mortality. On the basis of the differences in cardiac ketone body metabolism under healthy and disease conditions, in this review, we describe in detail the characteristics of cardiac ketone body metabolism and the significance of elevated circulating ketone body levels throughout the life cycle on physiological states.