Mitochondrial 'circuit breaker' protects coronary heart from harm
Excessive-resolution microscopic picture of mitochondria inside a single coronary heart cell. Mitochondria highlighted in pink had been uncovered to ultraviolet gentle. Credit score: NHLBI A group of scientists from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being has found organic mechanisms that seem to stop injury to the center muscle's "energy grid," the community of mitochondrial circuits that present power to cells. A kind of mechanisms, the researchers discovered, acts very similar to a circuit breaker, permitting power to proceed shifting all through the center muscle cells even when particular person elements of these cells -- the mitochondria -- have been broken. Such protecting mechanisms might someday assist higher perceive how coronary heart and skeletal muscle operate underneath each wholesome and unhealthy situations, reminiscent of with coronary heart illness, mitochondrial ailments, and muscular dystrophy, the researchers say. Their examine se...