ABSTRACT
Mitochondrial Number .............................................................. 274 14.4.3 Operations and Procedures ....................................................... 276
14.4.3.1 Selection of Detection Zone ...................................... 276 14.4.3.2 Sample Preparation and Extraction of
Mitochondria ............................................................ 277
Mitochondrial number is an important parameter to reect the functions linked to muscular and dilated cardiomyopathy diseases, and the aging process. Thus, an accurate method for determination of mitochondrial number is essential to obtain important information for the assessment of the progression of the above-mentioned diseases. There are two major approaches for measurement of the mitochondrial number of a given biological sample, such as tissues and cells. The rst, direct approach is based on the isolation of mitochondria from the biological sample for assessment of their activity and numbers. The methodology based on this approach is explored in this chapter. The second, indirect approach is based on measurement of a biomarker specically linked to the mitochondrial number to obtain the average values of mitochondrial numbers present in a given sample. The methodology based on this indirect approach is discussed in Chapter 15.
