Great video. Mitochondria becomes damaged due to oxidative stress.The most likely culprit in ME is the Immune activation which creates oxidation which damages cell membranes, the other factor to consider is environmental toxins. With membrane damage then the cell becomes dysfunction and can no longer produce adequate energy. So in theory as you increase antioxidants, you decrease oxidative stress then you have more stability.
OXIDATIVE STRESS AND MITOCHONDRIAL DAMAGE
Oxidative stress is characterized by an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can lead to mitochondrial damage in the following ways.
Oxidative damage and ROS
The balance of ROS and antioxidants under normal physiological conditions is disrupted with the overproduction of free radicals. These excess free radicals can lead to DNA damage, degradation of protein and lipids, neurodegenerative diseases including AD, PD and ALS (
Figure 1), and can cause protein deposition.
Figure 1
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial damage.
ROS and mitochondrial damage
ROS and mitochondrial DNA mutations
Mitochondria are the only organelles in cells, besides the nucleus, that contain their own DNA (called mitochondrial DNA) and their own machinery for synthesizing RNA and proteins[
5]. Mitochondrial DNA makes up approximately 1% of total cellular DNA and is thought to be
particularly susceptible to ROS attack associated with oxidative stress[6]. The persistence of mitochondrial DNA damage ultimately leads to mutations in the mitochondrial genome[
6] and gives rise to further mitochondrial dysfunction, which induces and aggravates the diseases (
Figure 1).