Although the detrimental effects of PARP-1 activation on mitochondrial function have been well described in neurodegenerative disease, cerebral ischemia, and trauma [23,29,30,31], whether PARP-1 activation contributes to the mitochondrial dysfunction commonly associated with SE, and the mechanisms by which PARP-1 mediates mitochondrial failure in SE are unknown. Here, PARP1 is linked to neurodegenerative disease.