MitochondrialDisease

A Presentation By Nico Tapiero

Introduction- Human body is made up of cells, and the mitochondria in the cells

make energy for the cells from food (cellular respiration)- Cells have many mitochondria within them- In Mitochondrial Disease, the cell’s mitochondria malfunction and

do not give energy to the cell- Cells make up tissues, tissues make up organs, organs make up

organ systems, and organ systems make up organisms- Damaged cells can do a lot of damage to the body

Causes- Mitochondrial Disease is hereditary- Also can be caused by unknown mitochondrial mutations and mitochondrial toxins- Toxins will interact with the mitochondria in the cells and will lead to the disease- Any tissue can be damaged, and the amount of damage depends on how many

mitochondria are affected and in which cells - The disease damages the cells by making them have less energy and not function

properly.

Symptoms- Mitochondrial Disease is also known as “The Invisible Disease” because it has many

symptoms, and a health care worker could confuse it with other diseases- Unique symptoms: muscle weakness, blindness, deafness, mental retardation,

diabetes, and heart blocks- There is no way to tell how sick a person will get and for how long, because there

are many different symptoms- Mitochondrial Disease can be fatal because of its fatal symptoms

Epidemiology- Mitochondrial Disease was first discovered in the early

1960’s in Stockholm, Sweden by Lars Ernster and Rolf Luft - Mitochondrial Disease is mostly specific to families of

people with mitochondrial disease, but it can also be caused by other things besides heredity

Treatment- Mitochondrial Disease is treated with vitamin therapy, a specific

diet, treatments for the symptoms, and by pacing activities, conserving energy, and blocking lactic acid buildup

- There is no vaccine available because Mitochondrial Disease deals with mitochondria, and since doctors cannot find the cause of mitochondria mutations, there is not a way to stop Mitochondrial Disease with a vaccine

Transmission/Prevention- Mitochondrial Disease is not contagious- Unless a person counts having children with Mitochondrial

Disease as spreading the disease, Mitochondrial Disease does not spread

- Human actions that can prevent Mitochondrial Disease are not smoking, eating a reasonable amount of fat, and avoiding psychological stressors

Referenceshttp://www.mitoaction.org/mito-faq=whatis

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5534163_signs-symptoms-mitochondrial-disease.html

http://www.tsbvi.edu/seehear/spring02/mitochondrial.htm

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/21stC/issue-1.3/dna-mitoch.html

http//www.umdf.org/atf/cf/28038C4C-02EE-4AD0-9DB5-D23E9D9F4D45/Exercise%20and%20Previention%20-%20Tarnopolsk.pdf

http://www.sharecare.com/question/what-causes-mitochondrial-diseases

http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/mitochondrialdis/a/062103.htm