Could caveolae be acting as warnings of mitochondrial ageing?

ABSTRACT

Ageing is a cellular process with many facets, some of which are currently undergoing a paradigm change. It is the case of "mitochondrial theory of ageing", which, interestingly, has been found lately to cross paths with another ageing dysfunctional process - intracellular signalling - in an unexpected point (or place) - caveolae. The latter represent membrane microdomains altered in senescent cells, scaffolded by proteins modified (posttranslational or as expression) with ageing. An important determinant of these alterations is oxidative stress, through increased production of reactive oxygen species that originate at mitochondrial site. Spanning from physical contact points, to shared structural proteins and similar function domains, caveolae and mitochondria might have more in common than originally thought. By reviewing recent data on oxidative stress impact on caveolae and caveolins, as well as possible interactions between caveolae and mitochondria, we propose a hypothesis for senescence-related involvement of caveolins.