Towards Enhanced Mitochondrial Fission to Improve Mitochondrial Function in Later Life

Mitochondrial function declines with age throughout the body. One of the better explored lines of investigation of this phenomenon focuses on changes in gene expression causing a reduction in mitochondrial fission, leading to impaired mitophagy, in turn leading to a build up of worn and dysfunctional mitochondria. Mitochondria are the descendants of ancient symbiotic bacteria, and they divide (fission) and join together (fusion) like bacteria. Mitophagy is the quality control mechanism responsible for removing damaged mitochondria, and it requires mitochondrial fission in order to operate efficiently, as larger mitochondria are more resistant to mitophagy. Are there ways to provoke a restoration of youthful levels of mitochondrial fission and thus mitophagy? In one sense yes, in that all of the established approaches to boosting mitochondrial function improve the situation to some degree, such as NAD+ upregulation and mitochondrially targeted antioxidants. In another sense no, as none of those options are definitively better than regular exercise. In a final sense yes, in that researchers have identified various proteins that change in expression with age, affecting mitochondrial fission. It is a long road from identifying a protein to finding a small molecule drug that can safely affect its expression, however, and gene therapies to precisely achieve this sort of outcome throughout the body are still not a going concern. Today's research materials are an exampl...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs