Abstract
The concept of Yang Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has many similarities with mitochondria in modern medicine. Both are indispensable to human beings and closely related to life and death. This article discusses the similarities in various aspects between mitochondria and Yang Qi, including body temperature, aging, newborns, circadian rhythm, immunity, and meridian. It is well-known that Yang Qi is vital for human health. Interestingly, decreased mitochondrial function is thought to be key to the development of various diseases. Here, we further explain diseases induced by Yang Qi deficiency, such as cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorder, senile dementia, and metabolic diseases, from the perspective of mitochondrial function. We aim to establish similarities and connections between two important concepts, and hope our essay can stimulate further discussion and investigation on unifying important concepts in western medicine and alternative medicine, especially TCM, and provide unique holistic insights into understanding human health.
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Abbreviations
- TCM:
-
Traditional Chinese Medicine
- mtDNA:
-
Mitochondrial DNA
- OXPHOS:
-
Oxidative phosphorylation
- nDNA:
-
Nuclear DNA
- TCA:
-
Tricarboxylic acid
- ETC:
-
Electron transport chain
- ATP:
-
Adenosine triphosphate
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- UCP1:
-
Uncoupling protein 1
- MAPR:
-
Mitochondrial ATP production rate
- CFS:
-
Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Aβ:
-
Beta-amyloid
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This work was partially supported by Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01) and the 111 Project (B13016) to JW, and a grant for ENN science and technology development to ZLG.
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JJL performed the literature survey and wrote the manuscript; SWS, JJX and JCW provided suggestions and corrected the manuscript; JJL and ZLG conceived of the theme and edited the manuscript.
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Luo, J., Shen, S., Xia, J. et al. Mitochondria as the Essence of Yang Qi in the Human Body. Phenomics 2, 336–348 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43657-022-00060-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43657-022-00060-3