Damaged stem cell mitochondria could accelerate aging and lead to neurodegenerative diseases. NextNEW YORK: US researchers have found that electronic cigarettes, often targeted at youth and pregnant women, produce a stress response in brain stem cells.Present throughout life, stem cells become specialised cells with more specific functions, such as brain cells, blood cells, or bone. Our observations are likely to pertain to any product containing nicotine ," Zahedi said.Using cultured mouse neural stem cells, the researchers identified the mechanism underlying EC-induced stem cell toxicity as "stress-induced mitochondrial hyperfusion," or SIMH. "If the nicotine stress persists, SIMH collapses, the neural stem cells get damaged and could eventually die," Zahedi said. It's worth stressing that it is nicotine that is doing damage to neural stem cells and their mitochondria," she added.

Source: Economic Times July 02, 2019 06:22 UTC