Mitochondrial Quality Control in Cardiomyocytes: A Critical Role in the Progression of Cardiovascular Diseases

Abstract

Mitochondria serve as an energy plant and participate in a variety of signaling pathways to regulate cellular metabolism, survival and immunity. Mitochondrial dysfunction, in particular in cardiomyocytes, is associated with the development and progression of cardiovascular disease, resulting in heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, mitochondrial quality control processes, including post-translational modifications of mitochondrial proteins, mitochondrial dynamics, mitophagy, and formation of mitochondrial-driven vesicles, play a critical role in maintenance of mitochondrial and even cellular homeostasis in physiological or pathological conditions. Accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondrial quality control in cardiomyocytes is able to improve cardiac function, rescue dying cardiomyocytes, and prevent the deterioration of cardiovascular disease upon external environmental stress. In this review, we discuss recent progress in understanding mitochondrial quality control in cardiomyocytes. We also evaluate potential targets to prevent or treat cardiovascular diseases, and highlight future research directions which will help uncover additional mechanisms underlying mitochondrial homeostasis in cardiomyocytes.

Mst1 Knockout Alleviates Mitochondrial Fission and Mitigates Left Ventricular Remodeling in the Development of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

“…The effects of Drp1 on mitochondrial fission is regulated by the phosphorylation of two serine residues at the c-terminal guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) effector domain of Drp1 (Fan et al, 2020 ). The phosphorylation of Drp1 at S616 activates mitochondrial fission.…”

Nutrition, Bioenergetics, and Metabolic Syndrome

“…For instance, interactions with lysosomes [ 53 ] allow the degradation and turnover of defective or unnecessary mitochondrial by mitophagy, important to maintain mitochondrial quality control (MQC). The failure of the MQC system has been described in NCDs patients [ 54 , 55 , 56 ], demonstrating the importance of mitochondrial interactions with other eukaryotic cell structures.…”

Phosphoglycerate mutase 5 exacerbates cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury through disrupting mitochondrial quality control

“…A progressive disruption of mitochondrial function and structure is not only an adaptive response to reperfusion but also a critical process predisposing cardiomyocytes to apoptosis or necroptosis [ 18 , 19 ]. Under conditions of I/R injury, the mitochondrial quality control system is activated and principally devoted to restore mitochondrial homeostasis through the modification of mitochondrial redox reaction, fission, fusion, mitophagy, and bioenergetics.…”