biorxiv2026-07-27score 92
Diabetic human kidney cortex respires faster as tissue while its isolated mitochondria, and Complex I, are already weaker
Granata, Coughlan and colleagues profiled fresh kidney cortex from living people with diabetes and still-preserved kidney function. Permeabilized tissue shows higher respiratory flux. Mitochondria isolated from the same cortex show lower respiratory capacity and impaired Complex I activity. Tubular cells carry more mitochondrial volume and a more fragmented network. The early lesion is not a uniform shutdown. It is weaker organelles, including Complex I, covered by a larger, remodeled mitochondrial pool. Complex I's iron-sulfur chain is the enzyme behind the activity loss, and the abstract does not name the cluster.
