AJP-Heart and Circulatory Physiology Podcast

What are mitochondria flash events, and are the flash coupled to the flow of electrons along the electron transport chain during mitochondrial respiration? In this podcast Associate Editor Ronglih Liao (Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School) interviews lead author Wang Wang (University of Washington) and content expert Hossein Ardehali (Northwestern University) about the study by Gong et al, which goes beyond Wang’s pioneering discovery of mitochondria flash to imaging flash and measuring mitochondria respiration. Might the imaging techniques used by Wang and co-authors lead to analysis of mitochondrial respiration in tissues other than the heart, such as skeletal muscle? While mitochondria flash can be used to measure reactive oxygen species (ROS) production inside the cell, can this innovative technique, in combination with pharmacological approaches, pinpoint the exact source of ROS production? Listen to find out.

Guohua Gong, Xiaoyun Liu, Huiliang Zhang, Shey-Shing Sheu, Wang Wang Mitochondrial flash as a novel biomarker of mitochondrial respiration in the heart Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published October 1, 2015, DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00462.2015.