July - September 2015, Volume 11, Issue 3

Popov D

Mitochondrial Stress in Translational Medicine toward Metabolic Disease

Acta Endo (Buc) 2015, 11 (3): 269-275
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2015.269

The recent discoveries on organelles autoregulation and their molecular mechanisms motivate a novel perspective on mitochondria involvement in cardiovascular dysfunctions related to diabetes mellitus and obesity. We present here an up-dated view on the latter topic along with a condensed perception on morphological details resultant from diabetes mellitus experimental models. This study is organized into sections covering the following topics: (i) mitochondrial stress/dysfunction, (ii) the “quality controller” role of mitochondria exerted by fusion, fission, and mitophagy events, (iii) the connection between mitochondria and metabolic diseases, and (iv) the perspectives of potential application of mitochondrial-targeted compounds in metabolic diseases. Critical analysis of the knowledge available so far on mitochondria-metabolic diseases relationship allows a two sides conclusion: a doubtful view, as the correlation between impaired mitochondrial function and insulin resistance is still unclear, even after 40 years since its first publication, and a hopeful view based on the novel traits of this organelle uncovered recently, such as plasticity, the “quality controller” role, the “retrograde signalling”, and the coordinate interaction with the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lysosomes. At the horizon, the essential issue of targeting mitochondria for the alleviation of diabetes/obesity complications remains to be resolved.

Keywords: oxidative stress, mitochondrial dynamics, fusion, fission, mitophagy

Correspondence: Doina Popov MD, “N. Simionescu” Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology 8, B.P. Hasdeu, Bucharest, 050568, Romania, E-mail: doina.popov@icbp.ro