Considering Mitophagy in the Aging Nervous System

Mitophagy is the selective version of autophagy focused on recycling mitochondria. Every cell contains hundreds of mitochondria, their primary responsibility the generation of chemical energy store molecules to power cellular processes. Mitochondria are the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria. They lead dynamic lives, replicating like bacteria, passing component parts around, and fusing together. Mitophagy is a quality control mechanism, removing damaged mitochondria in order to prevent cellular dysfunction. A good deal of evidence suggests that age-related declines in mitochondrial function are in large part caused by a progressive failure of the operation of mitophagy. Like the general processes of autophagy, mitophagy is thought to decline in efficiency with age. This can result from reasons peculiar to the involvement of mitochondria, such as changes in their dynamics that lead to greater resistance to mitophagy, or to defects in the common mechanisms of autophagy, such as formation or transport of autophagosomes, or defects in the function of the lysosomes responsible for breaking down cellular waste. It isn't always completely clear that specific metrics of autophagy are relevant in every tissue, or that autophagy is declines with age in all tissues, however. Too much autophagy can cause as much harm as too little autophagy, but a raised level of a specific autophagy-associated protein might in fact indicate a breakage in later portions of the autophagic pr...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs