Table 3.

Pathologies where mitochondrial transfer (or its blockage) has therapeutic impact

PathologyExperimental modelRoute of administration*ResultReference
Heart     
Ischemia Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhanced myocardial functional recovery and cell viability McCully et al., 2009  
 Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Masuzawa et al., 2013  
 Heart global ischemia Coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Cowan et al., 2016  
 Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhancement of myocardial cell viability Kaza et al., 2017  
 Heterotopic heart transplantation Coronary artery injection Enhancement of graft function and attenuation of necrosis Moskowitzova et al., 2019  
 Warm global ischemia Coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Doulamis et al., 2020  
 Heart regional ischemia Pre-ischemic coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Guariento et al., 2020  
Liver     
Ischemia Partial liver ischemia Intrasplenic injection Attenuation of hepatic injury Lin et al., 2013  
 Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease Intravenous tail injection Attenuation of lipid accumulation and oxidative stress Fu et al., 2017  
 Acetaminophen-induced liver injury Intravenous tail injection Attenuation of tissue injury and enhancement of hepatocyte metabolism Shi et al., 2018  
Lungs     
 Experimental lung silicosis Intravenous injection of MSCs or MSC-derived exosomes Reduction in the size of silicotic nodules, total number of white blood cells in BALF, and expression of inflammatory and pro-fibrotic genes in the lung Phinney et al., 2015  
 Acute lung ischemia-reperfusion Pulmonary artery injection and nebulization Improvement of lung mechanics and attenuation of tissue injury Moskowitzova et al., 2020  
 Pulmonary fibrosis Intravenous tail injection of MSCs Mitigation of fibrotic progression Huang et al., 2021  
Kidney     
 Renal artery stenosis Intra-arterially injection Improved perfusion and oxygenation, protective effects on injured tubular cells Zou et al., 2018  
Diabetic nephropathy Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats Injection under renal capsule Improved cellular morphology and structure of the tubular basement membrane and brush border  Konari et al., 2019  
CNS     
Stroke Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intravenous injection Decrease of brain infarction area and partial neurological status restoration Babenko et al., 2015  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Injection into ischemic striatum Attenuation of brain infarction area and neuronal death, restoration of motor performance Huang et al., 2016  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intravenous injection Restoration of neural function Babenko et al., 2018  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intra-arterial injection of MSCs Improved mitochondrial function in peri-infarct area and functional recovery Wang et al., 2019  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intracerebro-ventricular injection Promotion of neuroprotection, reduced brain infarct size, induced neurogenesis Zhang et al., 2019  
PD Neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine induced PD Medial forebrain bundle injection Attenuation of oxidative damage and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, and improved locomotion Chang et al., 2016  
 Neurotoxin MPTP induced PD Intravenous injection Reduction of neuronal death and attenuation of damage by ROS and improved behavioral symptoms Shi et al., 2018  
Schizophrenia Poly-I:C induced schizophrenia Prefrontal cortex injection Prevention of the loss of brain ∆ψm and attention deficit in adulthood Robicsek et al., 2018  
AD AD model produced by the intra-cerebro-ventricular injection of Aβ peptide Intravenous injection (tail) Attenuation of neuronal loss and reactive gliosis, restoration of cognitive deficits Nitzan et al., 2019  
Depression LPS-induced model of depression Intravenous injection Improved symptoms such as exploratory behavior and promotion of neurogenesis, antidepressant-like effects Wang et al., 2019  
Aging Aged mice (18 mo) Intravenous injection (tail) Significant improvement of cognitive and motor performance of aged mice Liu et al., 2019  
Spinal cord Spinal cord injury Mediolateral gray matter of injury site Maintenance of acute bioenergetics, functional recovery Zhao et al., 2020  
 Spinal cord ischemia Intravenous injection (jugular) Improved hindlimb motor function Feng et al., 2019; Gollihue et al., 2018  
 Spinal cord injury Injected into the epicenter of the injured spinal cord Improved locomotor functional recovery Li et al., 2019  
Glaucoma Optic nerve crush Intravitreal injection Promoted short-term neuroprotection (14 d) to retinal ganglion cells and modulated retinal oxidative metabolism; importantly, mitochondria also increased the number of axons extending ahead of the injury site in a long-term period (28 d) McCully et al., 2017  
Retinal ganglion cell degeneration Ndufs4 knockout mouse model Vitreous cavity injection Protection against mitochondrial damage-induced retinal ganglion cell loss Jiang et al., 2019  
Corneal injury Alkaline burn-induced corneal damage Transplantation of MSC scaffold to the center of the cornea Improved corneal wound healing Jiang et al., 2016  
Cancer     
 Melanoma lung metastasis Intravenous tail injection Retardation of tumor growth and prolonged animal survival Fu et al., 2019  
 MM Intravenous injection of CD38 myeloma cells Targeting of CD38 reduced significantly mitochondrial transfer and improved animal survival Marlein et al., 2019  
 Glioma cell (U87) xenograft tumors Injection into xenograft Inhibited glioma growth, enhanced radiosensitivity of gliomas  Sun et al., 2019  
Embryonic development In vitro blastocyst stage development Injection into zygotes Improved embryonic development Yi et al., 2007  
Tissue injury Full-thickness cutaneous wound and dystrophic skeletal muscle Engraftment of MSCs and platelets into the wound area Enhanced therapeutic efficacy of MSCs  Levoux et al., 2021  
BM transplantation (BMT) Total body irradiation as a preconditioning mechanism before BMT Intravenous tail injection of BM cells Rapid recovery of BM microenvironment, improved hematopoietic reconstitution after BMT Golan et al., 2020  
PathologyExperimental modelRoute of administration*ResultReference
Heart     
Ischemia Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhanced myocardial functional recovery and cell viability McCully et al., 2009  
 Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Masuzawa et al., 2013  
 Heart global ischemia Coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Cowan et al., 2016  
 Heart regional ischemia Injection into ischemic region Enhancement of myocardial cell viability Kaza et al., 2017  
 Heterotopic heart transplantation Coronary artery injection Enhancement of graft function and attenuation of necrosis Moskowitzova et al., 2019  
 Warm global ischemia Coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Doulamis et al., 2020  
 Heart regional ischemia Pre-ischemic coronary artery injection Enhancement of post-ischemic myocardial function Guariento et al., 2020  
Liver     
Ischemia Partial liver ischemia Intrasplenic injection Attenuation of hepatic injury Lin et al., 2013  
 Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease Intravenous tail injection Attenuation of lipid accumulation and oxidative stress Fu et al., 2017  
 Acetaminophen-induced liver injury Intravenous tail injection Attenuation of tissue injury and enhancement of hepatocyte metabolism Shi et al., 2018  
Lungs     
 Experimental lung silicosis Intravenous injection of MSCs or MSC-derived exosomes Reduction in the size of silicotic nodules, total number of white blood cells in BALF, and expression of inflammatory and pro-fibrotic genes in the lung Phinney et al., 2015  
 Acute lung ischemia-reperfusion Pulmonary artery injection and nebulization Improvement of lung mechanics and attenuation of tissue injury Moskowitzova et al., 2020  
 Pulmonary fibrosis Intravenous tail injection of MSCs Mitigation of fibrotic progression Huang et al., 2021  
Kidney     
 Renal artery stenosis Intra-arterially injection Improved perfusion and oxygenation, protective effects on injured tubular cells Zou et al., 2018  
Diabetic nephropathy Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats Injection under renal capsule Improved cellular morphology and structure of the tubular basement membrane and brush border  Konari et al., 2019  
CNS     
Stroke Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intravenous injection Decrease of brain infarction area and partial neurological status restoration Babenko et al., 2015  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Injection into ischemic striatum Attenuation of brain infarction area and neuronal death, restoration of motor performance Huang et al., 2016  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intravenous injection Restoration of neural function Babenko et al., 2018  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intra-arterial injection of MSCs Improved mitochondrial function in peri-infarct area and functional recovery Wang et al., 2019  
 Middle cerebral artery occlusion Intracerebro-ventricular injection Promotion of neuroprotection, reduced brain infarct size, induced neurogenesis Zhang et al., 2019  
PD Neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine induced PD Medial forebrain bundle injection Attenuation of oxidative damage and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, and improved locomotion Chang et al., 2016  
 Neurotoxin MPTP induced PD Intravenous injection Reduction of neuronal death and attenuation of damage by ROS and improved behavioral symptoms Shi et al., 2018  
Schizophrenia Poly-I:C induced schizophrenia Prefrontal cortex injection Prevention of the loss of brain ∆ψm and attention deficit in adulthood Robicsek et al., 2018  
AD AD model produced by the intra-cerebro-ventricular injection of Aβ peptide Intravenous injection (tail) Attenuation of neuronal loss and reactive gliosis, restoration of cognitive deficits Nitzan et al., 2019  
Depression LPS-induced model of depression Intravenous injection Improved symptoms such as exploratory behavior and promotion of neurogenesis, antidepressant-like effects Wang et al., 2019  
Aging Aged mice (18 mo) Intravenous injection (tail) Significant improvement of cognitive and motor performance of aged mice Liu et al., 2019  
Spinal cord Spinal cord injury Mediolateral gray matter of injury site Maintenance of acute bioenergetics, functional recovery Zhao et al., 2020  
 Spinal cord ischemia Intravenous injection (jugular) Improved hindlimb motor function Feng et al., 2019; Gollihue et al., 2018  
 Spinal cord injury Injected into the epicenter of the injured spinal cord Improved locomotor functional recovery Li et al., 2019  
Glaucoma Optic nerve crush Intravitreal injection Promoted short-term neuroprotection (14 d) to retinal ganglion cells and modulated retinal oxidative metabolism; importantly, mitochondria also increased the number of axons extending ahead of the injury site in a long-term period (28 d) McCully et al., 2017  
Retinal ganglion cell degeneration Ndufs4 knockout mouse model Vitreous cavity injection Protection against mitochondrial damage-induced retinal ganglion cell loss Jiang et al., 2019  
Corneal injury Alkaline burn-induced corneal damage Transplantation of MSC scaffold to the center of the cornea Improved corneal wound healing Jiang et al., 2016  
Cancer     
 Melanoma lung metastasis Intravenous tail injection Retardation of tumor growth and prolonged animal survival Fu et al., 2019  
 MM Intravenous injection of CD38 myeloma cells Targeting of CD38 reduced significantly mitochondrial transfer and improved animal survival Marlein et al., 2019  
 Glioma cell (U87) xenograft tumors Injection into xenograft Inhibited glioma growth, enhanced radiosensitivity of gliomas  Sun et al., 2019  
Embryonic development In vitro blastocyst stage development Injection into zygotes Improved embryonic development Yi et al., 2007  
Tissue injury Full-thickness cutaneous wound and dystrophic skeletal muscle Engraftment of MSCs and platelets into the wound area Enhanced therapeutic efficacy of MSCs  Levoux et al., 2021  
BM transplantation (BMT) Total body irradiation as a preconditioning mechanism before BMT Intravenous tail injection of BM cells Rapid recovery of BM microenvironment, improved hematopoietic reconstitution after BMT Golan et al., 2020  
*

administration of mitochondria unless stated otherwise

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