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So mitochondria are the powerhouse of
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the cell. We each have hundreds of them
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in each one of our cells. Every cell in
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our body gets its energy, which is what
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it uses to function from the
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mitochondria. And so there's been a lot
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of research into the relationship
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between mitochondria and aging. And that
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dysfunctional mitochondria may actually
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be a key driver for many diseases
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including many cancers, Alzheimer's,
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Parkinson's, ALS, features of autism,
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muscle tissues being weak, etc. So as
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the cells get older and the mitochondria
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stop working, we make new mitochondria.
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But over time, the DNA degrades and the
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mitochondria become less effective and
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there are fewer functional mitochondria
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per cell. There are three papers that I
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wanted to just highlight that kind of
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follow an interesting theme. The first
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one was from 2023 from WashU in St.
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Louis. These folks identified and
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demonstrated that mitochondria can
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actually transfer from one cell to
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another. So, if you've got a cell that's
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got damaged or dysfunctional
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mitochondria, they've identified three
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mechanisms by which mitochondria can
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move into a cell that needs more
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mitochondria that are working and are
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more functional. And as a result, it can
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rejuvenate or provide energy to a
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dysfunctional cell, which might improve
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dysfunctional tissue or improve disease.
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The second paper was done out of
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Colombia University, and this was the
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first mapping of the mitochondria in the
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human brain. And so these folks created
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703 tiny cubes of brain from a person
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that passed away, a 54 year old donor.
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And then they analyzed the mitochondria
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in each of those cubes. And they use
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that to make a map of mitochondria in
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the brain. And what it showed was that
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different parts of the brain, different
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cells had different amounts of
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mitochondria and different mitochondrial
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function which actually starts to
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highlight how that difference in energy
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production in different cells in
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different parts of the brain may
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actually cause some of the things like
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memory loss or speech impairment that
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the mitochondrial dysfunction in the
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brain might actually be the key driver
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of that aging symptomology. The third
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paper which just came out came out of a
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team at Shang University in China. They
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took stem cells and they figured out a
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way to treat the stem cells so that
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those stem cells would start to make an
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excess amount of mitochondria than they
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normally would make. So they created
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highly energetic mitochondria and they
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made a lot of them. And the idea that we
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can put mitochondria into our body or
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into tissue in our body to heal it or
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repair it has been something that folks
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have been trying to do research around
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for a long time. But the limiting factor
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is access to enough mitochondria. So
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this mechanism that they developed opens
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up the door to this whole new
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therapeutic modality, a new type of
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therapy called midotherapy or
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mitochondrial therapy that based on the
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series of papers that we're seeing
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coming out recently, I believe could end
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up becoming a really incredible new
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therapy that may ultimately lead to the
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treatment for many diseases that we're
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kind of dealing with right
