Cardiomyocyte mitochondrial dynamics in health and disease and the role of exercise training: A brief review

Mitochondria as dynamic organelle constantly undergo fusion and fission reactions, leading to continuous reconstruction of the mitochondrial network for elongated or fragmentation shapes and ultimately the mitophagy. This mitochondrial network dynamics is sensitive to stress and different physiological conditions and plays an essential role in cell function and survival during pathophysiological conditions. There is a strong interaction between the mitochondrial network morphology and proteins involved in energy metabolism and dynamics. It is suggested that changes in cellular energy status during exercise training are due to mitochondrial network dynamics and mitophagy. Accordingly, growing evidence reveals that exercise training results in alterations in mitochondrial phenotype and dynamics that resist apoptotic stimuli and ischemia-reperfusion-induced mitochondrial damage. However, the signaling pathways of mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy regulation during exercise training are still interesting areas of research. In this review, we focus on the recent findings addressing cellular signaling mechanisms of mitochondrial dynamics and cardiac mitophagy in response to exercise training and the pathological stimulus in heart disorders.