Despite intensive research, the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains poorly understood and the disease remains incurable. However, compelling evidence gathered over decades of research strongly support a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in PD pathogenesis. Related to this, PGC-1α, a key regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis, has recently been proposed to be an attractive target for in...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease characterized by glucose metabolic disturbance. A number of transcription factors and coactivators are involved in this process. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) is an important transcription coactivator regulating cellular energy metabolism. Accumulating evidence has indicated that PGC-1α is invol...

Cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β- and γ-secretase generates amyloid-β (Aβ) and APP intracellular domain (AICD) peptides. Presenilin (PS) 1 or 2 is the catalytic component of the γ-secretase complex. Mitochondrial dysfunction is an established phenomenon in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the causes and role of PS1, APP, and APP's cleavage products in this process are largely unkno...

Multiple mechanisms likely contribute to neuronal death in Parkinson's disease (PD), including mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator-1 alpha (PGC-1α) positively regulates the expression of genes required for mitochondrial biogenesis and the cell's antioxidant responses. Also, expression of PGC-1α-regulated genes is low in s...

Mechanisms responsible for energy management in the cell and in the whole organism require a complex network of transcription factors and cofactors. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) has emerged as a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis and function, thus becoming a crucial metabolic node. We present an overview of the mechanisms by which PGC-1α is reg...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) is a metabolic regulator induced during ischemia that prevents cardiac remodeling in animal models. The activity of PGC-1α can be estimated in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the value of blood PGC-1α levels in predicti...

Transcription factors of the FoxO (forkhead box O) family regulate a wide range of cellular physiological processes, including metabolic adaptation and myogenic differentiation. The transcriptional activity of most FoxO members is inhibitory to myogenic differentiation and overexpression of FoxO1 inhibits the development of oxidative type I fibres in vivo. In this study, we found that FoxO6, th...

Individual skeletal muscles in the animal body are heterogeneous, as each is comprised of different fiber types. Type I muscle fibers are rich with mitochondria, and have high oxidative metabolisms while type IIB fibers have few mitochondria and high glycolytic metabolic capacity. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), a transcriptional co-activator that regul...

BACKGROUND Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ co-activator-1α (PGC-1α) is a member of the transcriptional coactivator family that plays a central role in the regulation of cellular energy metabolism under various physiological stimuli. During fasting, PGC-1α is induced in the liver and together with estrogen-related receptor a and γ (ERRα and ERRγ, orphan nuclear receptors with no kno...

Studies have shown that decreased mitochondrial content and function are associated with hepatic steatosis. We examined whether peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) overexpression and a subsequent increase in mitochondrial content and function in rat primary hepatocytes (in vitro) and Sprague-Dawley rats (in vivo) would comprehensively alter mitochondrial lipid m...