Today’s open access editorial discusses one quite specific consequence of the age-related disruption of energy metabolism in cells. Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, falter with age throughout the body, for complex reasons still under exploration. The proximate causes involve too little production of molecular machinery needed for the correct operation of the electron transport chain, or mitochondrial dynamics, in the first case leading to inefficient production of ATP and raised levels of reactive oxygen species, and in the second case leading to failure of quality control mechanisms intended to rem…
The Age-Related Decline of Energy Metabolism in Myeloid Cells as an Important Cause of Neurodegeneration
Today’s open access editorial discusses one quite specific consequence of the age-related disruption of energy metabolism in cells. Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, falter with age throughout the body, for complex reasons still under exploration. The proximate causes involve too little production of molecular machinery needed for the correct operation of the electron transport chain, or mitochondrial dynamics, in the first case leading to inefficient production of ATP and raised levels of reactive oxygen species, and in the second case leading to failure of quality control mechanisms intended to rem…