The role of cardiolipin and tafazzin in mediating skeletal muscle growth and wasting.

骨骼肌质量是增长和损失之间的平衡点。有些情况(如年龄、肌肉萎缩状况)是生长和丧失不平衡的结果。线粒体是肌肉生长和损耗平衡的贡献者，线粒体是细胞的能量产生者。如果线粒体是健康的，这将为肌肉生长提供必要的能量。如果线粒体是不健康的，这将影响能量的产生，损害肌肉的生长，并可能发出肌肉丧失的信号。线粒体中的能量产生涉及蛋白质和脂肪之间的关键相互作用。心磷脂是一种特殊的脂肪，它有助于组织能量产生中重要的蛋白质，只在线粒体中存在。这种脂肪有一种非常独特的结构，这种结构的变化会降低线粒体的功能。有许多酶负责制造心磷脂，这些酶的变化会导致心磷脂的改变和线粒体功能的降低。我们目前还不知道心磷脂在肌肉生长和损失平衡中的作用。通过了解正常肌肉质量平衡时发生的情况，我们可以了解是什么导致肌肉生长和损失，并确定是否有其他治疗策略来防止肌肉损失，例如，衰老和肌肉萎缩。

Skeletal muscle mass is a balance between growth and loss. Some situations (e.g. age, muscle wasting conditions) are a result of an imbalance in growth and loss. A contributor to the balance of muscle growth and loss are mitochondria, the energy producers of the cell. If mitochondria are healthy, this will provide the necessary energy from muscle growth. If mitochondria are unhealthy, this will impact energy production, impair muscle growth, and possibly signal muscle loss. Energy production in mitochondria involves the critical interaction between proteins and fat. A specific fat that helps the organization of proteins important in energy production and is only found in mitochondria is cardiolipin. This fat has a very unique structure and changes to this structure decrease mitochondrial function. There are a number of enzymes responsible for making cardiolipin and changes to these enzymes results in altered cardiolipin and decreased mitochondrial function. We currently don't know the role of cardiolipin in the balance of muscle growth and loss. By understanding what happens in normal muscle mass balance, we can appreciate what contributes to muscle growth and loss and determine if there are alternative treatment strategies to prevent muscle loss seen with, for example, aging and muscle wasting conditions.