Mitochondria

Mito­chon­dria are small struc­tures within cells that are often descri­bed as the cel­l’s power sta­ti­ons. They con­vert nut­ri­ents and oxy­gen into ener­gy in the form of ATP. As a by-pro­duct, they also gene­ra­te reac­ti­ve oxy­gen spe­ci­es, known as free radicals.

Appli­ca­ti­on

With age, mito­chon­dria beco­me less effi­ci­ent and pro­du­ce more free radi­cals that can dama­ge cells (oxi­da­tive stress). In the skin, fibro­blasts in par­ti­cu­lar need a gre­at deal of ener­gy to pro­du­ce col­la­gen and elas­tin. UV radia­ti­on also dama­ges mito­chon­dri­al DNA, which con­tri­bu­tes to pho­to­aging.

Good to know

Regu­lar endu­rance exer­cise is a well-sup­port­ed way of pro­mo­ting the for­ma­ti­on and func­tion of mito­chon­dria. For sup­ple­ments such as coen­zy­me Q10 or NAD+ pre­cur­sors, a bene­fit for the skin or life­span has not been ade­qua­te­ly shown in humans. Skin­ca­re ingre­di­ents desi­gned to tar­get mito­chon­dria are still being researched.