How can stressed mitochondria actually protect your heart?

• • Highlights
  • Salk scientists uncover new advantages and mechanisms of mitohormesis, a process where mitochondrial stress early in life leads to lasting benefits
  • By inducing mitohormesis in mice, researchers found they could help the heart build lasting resilience against damage from a common chemotherapy drug—and identified a molecule called citrate as the chemical messenger that carries this protective signal to the rest of the cell
  • The findings may help explain why antioxidant therapies to counter cellular stress have largely failed and suggest new directions for healthy aging therapies

LA JOLLA—Mitochondria are popularly known as the “powerhouse of the cell,” but these cellular structures do so much more—including acting as signaling hubs. Some signals that mitochondria send can reprogram the activity of the entire cell by switching “on” or “off” different genes through epigenetic changes. Mitochondria’s signals can be so…
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