PDK1 and brain injury: It has been reported that determine pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is important for the changes in brain energy metabolism seen in various brain injuries [14,68,69], and DCA, a structural analogue of pyruvate, is attached to the pyruvate binding site to inhibit PDK in the order of PDK2 > PDK1, PDK4 > PDK3 [12].