Mike Devinney

E-mail: mdevinney@wisc.edu

Research Project:

I study the relationship of glycolysis to epilepsy in Tom Sutula's laboratory. In particular, my lab focuses on the antiepileptic effects of 2-deoxyglucose (2DG), a glycolytic inhibitor. 2DG has been found to slow the progression to seizures by two fold in a kindling model of epilepsy and block seizure-induced increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor TrkB, explaining the chronic anti-epileptic effects of 2DG. However, some of the acute effects of 2DG on synaptic transmission and seizure activity are not well characterized. My lab has shown that 2DG affects hippocampal LTP, LTD and epileptic bursting. My project will focus on characterizing these effects through pharmacological manipulations of glycolysis, TCA cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation in hippocampal slice recordings.