Cellvie Seed Funded to Develop Mitochondrial Transplantation as a Therapy

Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell, producing chemical energy store molecules to power cellular processes. They are also embedded deeply into may core functions of the cell, from replication to programmed cell death. Mitochondrial function declines throughout the body with age, for reasons that are likely downstream of other more fundamental damage. Mitochondrial dynamics change in ways that make mitochondria more resilient to removal via mitophagy when worn or broken, and mitophagy itself loses efficiency. This may or may not be connected to mitochondrial DNA damage. It is unclear as to whether the progressive accumulation of mutations in mitochondrial DNA has a broad effect on function in most cells, or only results in a small number of highly dysfunctional cells.

Regardless, is it possible to effectively address mitochondrial dysfunction by delivering new mitochondria in large volumes into the body? It is clearly the case that cells ingest whole mitochondria and put them to work when given the opportunity. This option hasn't been aggressively pursued to date by the core rejuvenation biotechnology community, as it seems likely that it could only have a short term benefit. One can argue that functional mitochondrial placed into a dysfunctional environment will soon go the way of their predecessors, and for the same reasons: altered dynamics and diminished mitophagy. Similarly cells overtaken by dramatically broken mitochondria are overtaken because those mi...

Source: Fight Aging! - February 2, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Longevity Industry Source Type: blogs