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Scholars Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences | Volume-3 | Issue-05
Electron Transport Chain: Role in Reactive Oxygen Species Production and Aging
Vasava AA, Mashiyava PH
Published: May 30, 2016 | 252 138
DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2016.v03i05.006
Pages: 378-388
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Abstract
Mitochondria have captured the interest of biochemists for more than 50 years. They have been studied intensively in the past decades, not least because they are abundant and can be isolated easily from different tissues. Mitochondria have lately moved into the spotlight of other exciting areas, namely the study of apoptosis, evolutionary biology and molecular medicine. Cellular respiration is the oxidative, chemical attack on energy-rich molecules to provide useful energy for the cell. Cellular respiration involves four phases: glycolysis, the preparatory reaction, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain. Electron transport chains are biochemical reactions that produce ATP, which is the energy currency of life. The generation of monomitochondrial ROS is a consequence of oxidative phos-phorylation, a process that uses the controlled oxida-tion of NADH or FADH to generate a potential energy for protons across the mitochondrial inner mem-brane. ROS can directly modulate protein complexes within the mitochondrial electron transport chain, activate caspases and trigger cell death. In apoptosis there is typically a rapid reduction in the mitochondrial membrane potential lead to block of respiratory function due to the cleavage and inactivation of electron transport chain constituents by activated caspases. The mitochondrial theory of ageing predicts that Oxidative damage induced mtDNA mutations that impair either the assembly or the function of the respiratory chain will in turn trigger further accumulation of ROS, which results in a vicious cycle leading to energy depletion in the cell and ultimately cell death.