1001 ways to stress a cell

Stress: oxidative, hypoxic, thermic, chemical, osmotic, inonizing, genotoxic… so many ways to stress a cell, and the list goes on! When our bodies are facing these triggers, our cells only have two options: adapt, or die.

By “adapting”, we refer to the many mechanisms that respond to stress. For instance, when a cell is stretched (as it is during a physical effort), it can modify its cyto-skeleton, the structure maintaining its anatomy, in order to avoid tearing and to later come back to its initial shape. In the case of pathological stress, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, the cell can also increase its capacity to deal with waste as a response. These adaptation processes can even go much further, and modify the expression of a protein, DNA structure or even the metabolism of the cell.

For the past 10 years, the study of cellular stress has become a subject of great importance in the research circles, in terms of pathology and aging alike.

Oxidative stress has become a major subject of interest, especially regarding cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer occurrence ; those are diseases largely tied to aging and to our cells’ capacity to handle stress.

What targets for cellular stress?

Stress can take up many forms and target many organelles: the nucleus (where lies our genetic information, our DNA), the mitochondria (powerhouse of the cell), and the endoplasmic reticulum (where proteins are synthesized) are privileged targets. However, peroxysomes (that modify in part lipids and amino-acids, and synthesize oxygen-reactive species) can also be targeted.

In this series of articles, we will attempt to understand how cellular stress works, how it manifests itself, what tools cells and organelles can use to fight back. We will also look into potential answers as to how to prevent stress, and the role it plays in the aging process. What a plan!