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Future researches on mitochondria are very promising. For a fundamental point of view, the knowledge of mitochondrial functions will increase in the next few years, in genetic, apoptosis, as well as in biochemistry. The key role of mitochondria in apoptosis will develop the knowledge on the release of pro-apoptotic proteins, the role of anti-apoptotic proteins. The interrelation between oxygen consumption, superoxide anion production and the action of uncoupling proteins seems to be very important to better understand the biochemistry of mitochondria and its fine regulation. All these phenomenons will improve the understanding of the development of diseases where mitochondrial dysfunctions are involved. However, this will not be possible without the integration in the observations that mitochondria have different properties according to their tissue origin. Thus, there is not only one mitochondrial mechanism but several, depending on the role, the environment and the energy needs of each tissue. Nevertheless, defective mitochondria and their particular genome, should not be considered as the only starting point either leading cells into a death cascade or resulting in pathology notably related to ageing process. From a clinical point of view, all these progress can have some repercussions such as the finding of more efficient drugs for treatment of mitochondrial diseases. Indeed, strategies to prevent mitochondrial damages or to manipulate mitochondrial functions in clinically useful ways may provide new therapies for many human disorders. However, the challenge will also be to improve and facilitate the early diagnosis of mitochondrial pathologies. This is possible with miniaturisation of enzymatic assay, improvement of mtDNA mutation detection, but also with doctors being better informed and trained. |
