Extracellular Circulating Mitochondria

For several decades, mitochondria were considered only intracellular organelles. Recent studies have pointed to the presence of extracellular mitochondria that can be released from the cell under physiological and pathological conditions. Extracellular mitochondria can communicate between cells as free whole mitochondria (freeMitos), membrane-enclosed inside platelets or vesicles, as well as circulating free mitochondrial DNA (ccf-mtDNA). The effects of extracellular mitochondria on immune cells open a new concept in the biomedical field towards understanding health, disease progression and developing therapies for damaged mitochondria. ccf-mtDNA may serve as a biomarker of disease survival prognosis. The perspective of extracellular mitochondria is mitochondrial transplantation. Using new artificial intelligence (AI) models, it is possible to monitor the effect of drugs and chemicals on the mitochondrial structure and predict their toxicity at the mitochondrial level.