Mitochondria Affect Stress Responses

2015-12-03 09:32:38

Credit: eightdollarwine.tumblr.com

Credit: eightdollarwine.tumblr.com

Mitochondria, the tiny structures inside our cells that generate energy, may also play a previously unrecognized role in mind-body interactions. Based on new studies of stress responses, this insight may have broad implications for human psychology and for the biology of psychiatric and neurological diseases.

A pioneering scientist in mitochondrial medicine has led research in animals showing how alterations in mitochondrial function lead to distinct physiological changes in hormonal, metabolic and behavioral systems in response to mild stress.

Our findings suggest that relatively mild alterations in mitochondrial genes, and hence mitochondrial physiology, have large effects on how mammals respond to stressful changes in their environment.This has profound implications for the hereditary basis of neuropsychiatric diseases and for the role of stress in human health.