Mitochondrial function is crucial for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis under physiological and stress conditions. Thus, chronic exposure to environmental chemicals that affect mitochondrial function can have harmful effects on humans. We argue that the concept of hormesis should be revisited to explain the non-linear responses to mitochondrial toxins at a low-dose range and develop practical methods to protect humans from the negative effects of mitochondrial toxins. Of the most concern to humans are lipophilic chemical mixtures and heavy metals, owing to their physical properties. Even though these chemicals tend to demonstrate no safe level in humans, a non-linear dose-response has been also observed. Stress response activation, i.e., hormesis, can explain this non-linearity. Recently, hormesis has reemerged as a unifying concept because diverse stressors can induce similar stress responses. Besides potentially harmful environmental chemicals, healthy lifestyle interventions such as exercise, calorie restriction (especially glucose), cognitive stimulation, and phytochemical intake also activate stress responses. This conceptual link can lead to the development of practical methods that counterbalance the harm of mitochondrial toxins. Unlike chemical hormesis with its safety issues, the activation of stress responses via lifestyle modification can be safely used to combat the negative effects of mitochondrial toxins.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) micro- and nanoplastic particles affect the mitochondrial efficiency of human brain vascular pericytes without inducing oxidative stress
  Sean M. Gettings, William Timbury, Anna Dmochowska, Riddhi Sharma, Rebecca McGonigle, Lewis E. MacKenzie, Guillaume Miquelard-Garnier, Nora Bourbia
  NanoImpact.2024; 34: 100508.     CrossRef
• Rules of Heliogeomagnetics Diversely Coordinating Biological Rhythms and Promoting Human Health
  Kuniaki Otsuka, Germaine Cornelissen, Andi Weydahl, Denis Gubin, Larry A. Beaty, Masatoshi Murase
  Applied Sciences.2023; 13(2): 951.     CrossRef
• Can lipophilic pollutants in adipose tissue explain weight change‐related risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus?
  Duk‐Hee Lee, In‐Kyu Lee
  Journal of Diabetes Investigation.2023; 14(4): 528.     CrossRef
• Hormetic Effects of Cerium, Lanthanum and Their Combination at Sub-micromolar Concentrations in Sea Urchin Sperm
  Giovanni Pagano, Antonios Apostolos Brouziotis, Daniel Lyons, Ivana Čarapar, Rahime Oral, Serkan Tez, Philippe J. Thomas, Franca Tommasi, Giovanni Libralato, Marco Guida, Marco Trifuoggi
  Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Mitochondria: It is all about energy
  Amaloha Casanova, Anne Wevers, Santiago Navarro-Ledesma, Leo Pruimboom
  Frontiers in Physiology.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Type 2 Diabetes Induced by Changes in Proteomic Profiling of Zebrafish Chronically Exposed to a Mixture of Organochlorine Pesticides at Low Concentrations
  Yan Gao, Hyojin Lee, Sangkyu Lee, Ki-Tae Kim
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.2022; 19(9): 4991.     CrossRef
• Effect of Low-Dose Persistent Organic Pollutants on Mitochondrial Function: Human and in Vitro Evidence
  Se-A Kim, Hoyul Lee, Sung-Mi Park, Mi-Jin Kim, Yu-Mi Lee, Young-Ran Yoon, Hyun-Kyung Lee, Hyo-Bang Moon, In-Kyu Lee, Duk-Hee Lee
  Diabetes & Metabolism Journal.2022; 46(4): 592.     CrossRef
• Can Environmental Pollutants Be a Factor Linking Obesity and COVID-19?
  Duk-Hee Lee
  Journal of Korean Medical Science.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Intensive weight loss and cognition: The dynamics of persistent organic pollutants in adipose tissue can explain the unexpected results from the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) study
  Yu‐Mi Lee, Sun‐Hee Park, Duk‐Hee Lee
  Alzheimer's & Dementia.2020; 16(4): 696.     CrossRef
• Lipophilic Environmental Chemical Mixtures Released During Weight‐Loss: The Need to Consider Dynamics
  Duk‐Hee Lee, David R Jacobs, Lars Lind, P. Monica Lind
  BioEssays.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology: How clean is clean? Rethinking dose-response analysis
  Evgenios Agathokleous, Edward J. Calabrese
  Science of The Total Environment.2020; 746: 138769.     CrossRef