Key result
Embryonic mitochondrial stress reprograms adult hearts to protect against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Why the study?
How mitohormesis operates in mammals and the underlying metabolic signals involved remain unclear.
Does transient mitochondrial superoxide stress prevent doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in a mouse model?
Does transient mitochondrial superoxide stress prevent doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in a mouse model?
Mitochondrial superoxide-induced mitohormesis, mediated by citrate export, protects the mammalian heart against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Captured external expert commentary on this paper, strongest first. Original sources are linked where available.
“As an MD/PhD student, I am always looking to connect foundational biological processes with human disease, and I have been especially interested in the ties between mitochondrial and cardiovascular health. To that end, we decided to test whether mitohormesis would protect against a heart failure model in mice-and we found that it does.”
“Antioxidant therapies have been developed to mitigate damaging effects of ROS, but they have largely failed in clinical trials. A better therapeutic approach to just targeting one reactive oxygen species at a time might be to enact a more nuanced global program like mitohormesis that affects both mitochondria and several antioxidant systems simultaneously. Hopefully our findings will spur the development of more effective alternatives in the future.”
“Mitohormesis has a rich history in model organisms used to study longevity mechanisms in the aging research field, with other researchers and us finding that-paradoxically-mitochondrial stress, which is usually considered detrimental to health, can actually extend lifespan and have other benefits.”
Embryonic mitohormesis may protect adult mouse hearts from doxorubicin toxicity; leaves open clinical translation and should not yet change practice.
Mitohormesis, whereby transient mitochondrial stress induces adaptive signaling, promotes organismal resilience and longevity in invertebrates, but how this operates in mammals and the underlying metabolic signals involved remain unclear. Using a mouse model of mitohormesis, we show that transient mitochondrial superoxide stress during embryogenesis reprograms the adult heart to enhance mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant capacity. These adaptations confer protection against mitochondrial and oxidative injury in models of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, preserving mitochondrial content and preventing cardiac dysfunction and remodeling. Using a cell model of superoxide-mediated mitohormesis, we find that inhibition of mitochondrial aconitase promotes citrate export to the cytosol, where its conversion to acetyl–coenzyme A drives histone acetylation and mitohormetic protection from oxidative stress. Preventing mitochondrial citrate export abolishes these adaptations, while Aco2 silencing or citrate supplementation recapitulates the response. Together, our findings identify mitochondrial citrate as a redox-sensitive second messenger linking mitochondrial superoxide stress to durable epigenetic and mitohormetic remodeling.
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Donnelly et al. (2026) studied Doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Transient mitochondrial superoxide stress via Sod2 knockdown vs. Littermate controls was evaluated on Cardiac function and remodeling following doxorubicin injury. Transient mitochondrial superoxide stress during embryogenesis reprograms the adult mouse heart to enhance mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant capacity, protecting against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
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