Key points from article :
New method for detecting mitophagy, process of recycling damaged mitochondria, developed.
Failure of cells to perform mitophagy leads to mitochondrial dysfunction.
That is one of the hallmarks of ageing, leading to more research on stimulating mitophagy.
mito-SRAI is the new method of detecting mitophagy that was insensitive to fixation.
It was shown that it was not susceptible to being destroyed by the cell’s proteosome.
This makes it ideal for use in living samples.
Researchers screened 76,000 compounds for potential therapeutic use.
T-271, the top choice, induces mitophagy in damaged mitochondria withouth harming healthy ones.
More refinement, analysis required to progress to in vivo and human trials.
Researchers from the RIKEN Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics in Japan, published in Cell.
