In repeated concussions, removing damaged mitochondria could prevent the neurodegeneration that occurs when pathology progresses in some patients. The key would be in the role of the p17 protein in restoring mitophagy, according to scientists from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). “Brain injury is an extrinsic disease. It is not idiopathic. When the primary injury occurs, the secure mechanism only relies on an endogenous protection of the brain. If you have a good neuroprotective mechanism, then after the primary injury, basically you don’t see any symptomatic effect,” Onder Albayram told BioWorld.