Hypothesis of responses to mitochondrial stress in health and disease. In times of mitochondrial stress, signals are sent to the cell which promote cellular adaptations that restore or possibly enhance mitochondrial function to maintain health (green arrows). In situations where mitochondrial stress signals are not relayed to other parts of the cell or the cell does not respond stress signals (red arrows), there is a failure for cellular adaptations which may consequently result in mitochondrial dysfunction and the development of disease.
