Fly models of metabolic disorders that induce seizures used to study potential positive impact of ketogenic diet

Fogle KJ, Smith AR, Satterfield SL, Gutierrez AC, Hertzler JI, McCardell CS, Shon JH, Barile ZJ, Novak MO, Palladino MJ. Ketogenic and anaplerotic dietary modifications ameliorate seizure activity in Drosophila models of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy and glycolytic enzymopathy. Mol Genet Metab. 2019 Jan 17. PMID: 30683556.

From the abstract: "Seizures are a feature not only of the many forms of epilepsy, but also of global metabolic diseases such as mitochondrial encephalomyopathy (ME) and glycolytic enzymopathy (GE). Modern anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are successful in many cases, but some patients are refractory to existing AEDs, which has led to a surge in interest in clinically managed dietary therapy such as the ketogenic diet (KD). This high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet causes a cellular switch from glycolysis to fatty acid oxidation and ketone body generation, ... We have recently shown that a Drosophila model of human ME (ATP61) responds robustly to the KD; here, we have investigated the mechanistic importance of the major metabolic consequences of the KD in the context of this bioenergetics disease: ketogenesis, reduction of glycolysis, and anaplerosis. ... Furthermore, our data reveal that multiple seizure models, in addition to ATP61, are treatable with the ketogenic diet. Importantly, one of these mutants is TPIsugarkill, which models human glycolytic enzymopathy, an incurable metabolic disorder ..."