Respiration deficiencies in mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses, are associated with changed social behavior and spatial memory in laboratory mice, report scientists at the American Society for Cell Biology 47th Annual Meeting.

Scientists have determined how cardiac cells die just as emergency treatments restore blood flow to a heart in distress, a paradox that has long puzzled doctors who are able to relieve pain in patients suffering from blocked arteries but can't stop the damage caused by the renewed rush of blood.

Study considered an important link in the field of sexual selection, where maternal inheritance of mitochondria may well have its greatest impact on sperm traits and competitive ability but thus far has been largely overlooked

A condition that has to be met for the body to be able to keep warm, move and even survive is that the mitochondria - the cells' power stations - release the right amounts of energy. Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have now identified the first known factor that acts as a brake on cellular energy production.

In the vast majority of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, the disorder arises not because of a genetic defect, but because some external insult triggers the death of dopamine-producing neurons. Now, researchers have reported progress in understanding the mechanism underlying that death, which they say suggests a new treatment pathway.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered how cells fine-tune their oxygen use to make do with whatever amount is available at the moment.

In a study appearing in the April 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal, scientists from Harvard University and the University of Pittsburgh have shown for the first time that the anti-inflammatory effects of carbon monoxide originate within cells' own molecular engines, mitochondria.