Mitochondrial Breakdown Produces Heart Disease

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On the basis of a new study, scientists are suggesting that heart disease may be caused by degradation of tiny cellular components called mitochondria - and that the cure may be found in taking steps to rejuvenate the little ovoid bodies. Researchers who introduced a defect into the mitochondrial DNA in the egg cells of mice found that the animals born from the eggs developed severe heart disease in very early middle age.

The DNA that was altered was part of the tiny number of genes (17 in all) contained in the mitochondria of mouse cells. Mitochondria are tiny bodies called organelles, hundreds of which float inside each cell turning glucose from our food into energy for our bodies.

The DNA alteration mimicked a situation that occurs naturally as the body ages. Mitochondrial DNA becomes damaged through its relentless chemical interactions, year in and year out, and the organelles therefore decline in their energy-production efficiency. It's been noted that people with heart disease have badly ravaged mitochondria, but it's never been established whether the mitochondrial damage is a cause or a result of the disease.

With this recent research, published in the journal Science, it's now clear that mitochondrial damage causes heart disease. "This provides strong support for the concept that aging and age-related diseases are associated with a decline in mitochondrial function associated with the age-related destruction of mitochondrial DNA," said Douglas Wallace, a professor of molecular medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles who led the study.

The mutated mice in the study developed heart tissue that was thick and weak, a condition similar to that found in human cardiac disease. And the mice contracted their condition after only one year, whereas normal mice don't have similar problems until old age, which is at least two years old. Wallace and his team are now looking for drugs that improve the health of the mitochondria. One of these is resveratrol, a natural compound that was recently demonstrated to prevent diabetes in mice.

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