Mitochondrial Roles and Cytoprotection in Chronic Liver Injury

Figure 1

The role of hepatocyte mitochondria in liver metabolism. The liver is a central organ for the homeostasis of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins metabolism. In this context, hepatocyte mitochondria are essential in regulating the flux of metabolites in the cell in order to adjust energetic demand, ammonia detoxification, or anabolic pathways. Energy demand is met by complete oxidation of acetyl groups coming from glycolysis through tricarboxyilic acid cycle or of acyl groups coming from lipolysis through 𝛽-oxidation. Moreover, mitochondria are a unique site for metabolizing ammonia into the less toxic urea. Then, mitochondria provide shuttle proteins that allow specific addressing to anabolic pathways, as in the case of citrate transport protein (CTP) (see text for details).