Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function.

摘要

The overall objective of this Discovery Award is to explore the hypothesis the ketogenic diet regulates neuronal excitability by influencing potassium channel activity via the auxiliary potassium channel subunit Kv Beta 2. To test this hypothesis we have examining the impact of the ketogenic diet on mice in which the gene that encodes Kv Beta 2 has been deleted (KvBeta2 KO mice) using an in vitro model of seizure induction. We have examined the first cohort of Kv Beta 2 KO mice and somewhat surprisingly it appears that Kv Beta 2 KO mice on a normal diet (ND) exhibit a lower frequency of in vitro bursting activity (seizures) which is reversed by treatment with the ketogenic diet (KD). Conversely, the latency to the first in vitro burst event is reduced in KvBeta2 KO mice on ND compared to wild-type mice on a ND. This effect was also reversed by the ketogenic diet. We are continuing to increase the sample size for this cohort and are developing additional computational tools to further analyze the seizure data.