Mitochondrion and
Apoptosis
FAN Ting Jun*, XIA Lan
( Department of Marine Biology, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean
University of Qingdao, Qingdao 266003, China )
HAN Yi Ren
( Institute of Developmental Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong
University, Jinan 250100, China )
Abstract Mitochondrion is
not only the major ATP manufacture center of animal cells, but also plays a key
role, as a main switch, in the regulation of apoptos is. Opening of the
mitochondrion permeability transition pore (MPTP), the life-or-death switch of
cells, causes an increase of the permeability of mitochondrial membrane and the
release of several types of apoptogenic factors from the intermembrane space,
such as cytochrome c, apoptosis inducing factors (AIFs),procaspases
and Ca2+. These apoptotic factors can either activate caspases, the
main member of apoptotic proteins, or destruct independently the intranuclear
chromatin, or interact with other Ca2+ -dependent proteins. These
result in structural rupture and dysfunction of cells, and the cells are
finally degraded into apoptotic bodies and died. Studies on the regulation
mechanisms of mitochondrion in apoptosis will be of great value theoretically
as well as potential practical usage in designing drugs for cancer, Parkinson’s
disease and so on, using mitochondria as targets. To understand the key role of
the mitochondrion in the determination of life and death of the cells, recent
findings in this field are reviewed in this article.
Key words apoptosis；mitochondrion；mitochondrion permeability
transition pore
*Corresponding author：Tel,86-532-2032276；Fax,86-532-2032276；e-mail,[email protected]