Mitochondrial Dynamics: A Key Role in Neurodegeneration and a Potential Target for Neurodegenerative Disease

Abstract

In neurodegenerative diseases, neurodegeneration has been related to several mitochondrial dynamics imbalances such as excessive fragmentation of mitochondria, impaired mitophagy, and blocked mitochondria mitochondrial transport in axons. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles, and essential for energy conversion, neuron survival, and cell death. As mitochondrial dynamics have a significant influence on homeostasis, in this review, we mainly discuss the role of mitochondrial dynamics in several neurodegenerative diseases. There is evidence that several mitochondrial dynamics-associated proteins, as well as related pathways, have roles in the pathological process of neurodegenerative diseases with an impact on mitochondrial functions and metabolism. However, specific pathological mechanisms need to be better understood in order to propose new therapeutic strategies targeting mitochondrial dynamics that have shown promise in recent studies.

Keywords: mitochondrial dynamics; mitochondrial fusion and fission; mitochondrial transport; mitophagy; neurodegeneration.