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The Underlying Mechanism(S) Of Fasting Induced Neuroprotection After Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury, Laurie Michelle Helene Davis

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is becoming a national epidemic, as it accounts for 1.5 million cases each year. This disorder affects primarily the young population and elderly. Currently, there is no treatment for TBI, which means that ~2% of the U.S. population is currently living with prolonged neurological damage and dysfunction. Recently, there have been many studies showing that TBI negatively impacts mitochondrial function. It has been proposed that in order to save the cell from destruction mitochondrial function must be preserved. The ketogenic diet, originally designed to mimic fasting physiology, is effective in treating epilepsy. Therefore, we have used …