Mitochondrial Transplant Alleviates Stress-Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Rat Brains

Mitochondrial transplantation is potentially a way to restore more youthful mitochondrial function without the need for a far greater understanding of exactly how exactly mitochondria become dysfunctional with age. Cells will readily ingest mitochondria from the surrounding intercellular space and make use of them. If those mitochondria work well in comparison to the state of the cell's native mitochondria, then cell function will be improved for some time. Animal studies suggest that the effect is lasting. In that context, it is always interesting to see studies in which outcomes are assessed for mitochondrial transplantation from young animals into old animals, as in today's open access paper. Other approaches to reducing the age-related decline in mitochondrial function have been implemented based on a combination of advances in scientific understanding and fortunate discoveries in small molecule screens. These largely appear to work at least in part via improved mitophagy, the quality control process responsible for recycling worn and broken mitochondria. Unfortunately, these treatments fail to improve on exercise when it comes to enhancing measures of health. This category of interventions in includes increasing NAD levels via delivery of precursors, urolithin A and its effects on mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondrially targeted antioxidants such as mitoQ, and so forth. While potentially more interesting approaches are under development, such as copying mit...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs