Function of lactate: Lactate is a three-carbon molecule produced by glycolytic metabolism that is a metabolic waste product with no known use in clinical therapy. Conversely, it is a metabolite that the body should quickly guarantee the clearance. However, lactate is now recognized as a potential energy substrate, as well as an anti-inflammatory signaling molecule. These actions were first reported in adult animal models with a brain injury, including a traumatic brain injury and cerebral ischemia, and have also been observed in human patients (Magistretti and Allaman, 2018). Recently, however, two studies by independent research groups described promising neuroprotective results from the use of lactate in animal models with neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (Roumes et al., 2021; Tassinari et al., 2020). Both studies suggested that lactate administered intraperitoneally was able to reach the brain and contribute to the reduction of brain injury, as well as improve behavioral parameters. Despite that the pre-clinical studies were performed using neonatal rats, they suggest the potential use of lactate as clinical therapy for the treatment of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a disorder still affecting a high number of newborns.