Abstract
This book is part of the series “Oxidative Stress and Disease”, and the editor is well known for her work on the interplay of diet, mitochondrial function and mitochondrial gene expression in the phenotypic expression of diabetes mellitus. This by design narrows the focus of this book to a single organelle and its role in a restricted spectrum of human diseases.
The book is organized into three topic areas. The first three chapters serve as a review of mitochondrial structure and function (with particular emphasis on the mitochondrial genome). Chapters four through nine overview the role of mitochondria in disease, aging, and toxicity, while the remainder of the book (Chapters 10–13) describes a number of in vitro and animal models of mitochondrial function and/or disease states.
A few chapters stand out as being particularly useful or interesting to the non-specialized researcher. Chapter 1 is an excellent, well-balanced overview of mitochondrial structure and function; the text is concise, conveying just enough information for a clear understanding of the subject while the details are contained in the figures and tables. Chapter 3 is lengthy and focuses on known mutations of the human mitochondrial genome but still provides some good basics on mitochondrial gene replication. Chapter 4 reviews the pathogenesis and manifestations of defects of oxidative phosphorylation and is equally well written and particularly well illustrated. Chapter 6 outlines the changes in mitochondrial structure and function that are correlated with the human aging process, most of which is equally applicable to aging in animal populations. Chapter 9 reviews the effects of drugs, nutrients, and hormones on mitochondrial function and is limited in scope, focusing primarily on free radical generation or interference with oxidative phosphorylation as mechanisms of action.
The remainder of the book will have very narrow appeal, either because of the sketchy coverage of the topic (Chapters 7 and 8, covering the role of mitochondria in cardiomyopathies and diabetes mellitus), strong human focus (Chapter 5, use of mitochondrial DNA in population surveys), or complexity (Chapter 2, mitochondrial bioenergetics). However, the section on mitochondrial models (Chapters 10 through 13) and Appendix 1 will serve as useful references to a researcher interested in starting the investigation of a mitochondrial-mediated process.