Mitochondria

Youthfulness and Mitochondria
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121121145404.htm

Mitochondrial Protein Implicated in Aging

http://extremelongevity.net/2012/12/20/mitochondrial-protein-implicated-in-aging/

Fusion
Mitochondrial Fission, Fusion, and Stress

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6098/1062.short

Mitochondrial Biogenesis
Cyclist in need of Mitochondrial Biogenesis http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=30173&view=findpost&p=324060

Possibly try:

Pyrroloquinoline Quinone

CoQ10 increases electron transport and reduces free radicals, but PQQ is a newer compound that can actually increase mitochondrial biogenesis. The only other widely available option to generate more mitochondria I know of is exercise. I'd use PQQ together with Acetyl-Carnitine, since the latter shuffles the fats (=necessary fuel) into the mitochondria.

study of concurrent CoQ10+PQQ administration: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2212345/ this suggests that in most cases, PQQ alone works as well as PQQ+CoQ10 (both together might be very slightly better for memory retention).

Article on DNA tweaking fruit flies to increase mitochondrial biogenesis: http://www.asianage.com/newsmakers/fly-intestine-key-fountain-youth-565

Function
The most prominent roles of mitochondria are to produce ATP (i.e., phosphorylation of ADP) through respiration, and to regulate cellular metabolism. The central set of reactions involved in ATP production are collectively known as the citric acid cycle, or the Krebs Cycle. However, the mitochondrion has many other functions in addition to the production of ATP.

Energy conversion
A dominant role for the mitochondria is the production of ATP, as reflected by the large number of proteins in the inner membrane for this task. This is done by oxidizing the major products of glucose, pyruvate, and NADH, which are produced in the cytosol. This process of cellular respiration, also known as aerobic respiration, is dependent on the presence of oxygen. When oxygen is limited, the glycolytic products will be metabolized by anaerobic respiration, a process that is independent of the mitochondria. The production of ATP from glucose has an approximately 13-fold higher yield during aerobic respiration compared to anaerobic respiration.[20] Recently it has been shown that plant mitochondria can produce a limited amount of ATP without oxygen by using the alternate substrate nitrite.

http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/92/5/1827.full

Citric Acid Cycle

The citric acid cycle (CAC) is the final common pathway for the oxidation of fuel molecules and takes place inside the matrix of the mitochondria. Most fuel molecules enter the cycle as acetyl coenzyme A. Under aerobic conditions, pyruvate from glycolysis is oxidatively decarboxylated to acetyl CoA. The CAC is the metabolic hub of the cell, supplying both 90% of the energy of higher mammals and many precursors for the building blocks of polymers, such as nucleic acids, amino acids and porphyrin. Its chief component, oxaloacetate is also a precursor for glucose. Essentially, acetyl CoA is yielded from any fuel upon entering the matrix, which is then inserted into an oxaloacetate molecule and successively oxidised to reduce flavin adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. The irreversible reaction which commits pyruvate to CAC metabolism is catalysed by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC):

Pyruvate + CoA + NAD+ -> acetyl CoA + CO2 + NADH + H+

Electrons are hereby transferred from pyruvate to NAD+, which then moves on to supply energy for the electron transport chain (ETC). PDC itself is a large, highly integrated complex of three enzymes. It is a member of a homologous family of complexes that include the CAC enzyme &alpha;-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. These complexes are giant, with molecular masses ranging from 4 to 10 million daltons. PDA contains three prosthetic groups: thiamine pyrophosphate, lipoamide and flavin adenine dinucleotide.

The CAC beings with the condensation of a four carbon unit, oxaloacetate, a two carbon unit, acetyl CoA and H2O which yields citrate and coenzyme A. This reaction, which is an aldol condensation followed by a hydrolysis, is catalysed by citrate synthase. Oxaloacetate first condenses with acetyl CoA to form citryl CoA.