Authors

J Usher¹; M Helley¹; R Pastore¹; K Hawkins¹; N Corbett¹; J Brownlees¹; 
¹ MSD, UK

Discussion

Mitochondrial dysfunction is an underlying factor in a range of neurodegenerative diseases, and selective turnover of damaged mitochondria by the autophagy-lysosome system (termed mitophagy) has been proposed as a potential therapeutic mechanism. We have developed a suite of assays to measure mitochondrial health, mitophagy induction, and inter-organelle contacts to profile putative therapeutic targets for their effect on mitochondrial health and mitophagy. Using well-characterised mitophagy inducers Antimycin A and Oligomycin, we show that each assay can measure mitochondrial function or mitophagy induction in a variety of formats. Taken together, this suite of assays can be used to test pharmacological interventions that boost mitophagy in order to promote mitochondrial health in neurodegenerative disease.