Altered mitochondrial network morphology and regulatory proteins in mitochondrial quality control in myotubes from severely obese humans with or without type 2 diabetes.

Healthy mitochondrial networks are maintained via balanced integration of mitochondrial quality control processes (biogenesis, fusion, fission, and mitophagy). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of severe obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) on mitochondrial network morphology and expression of proteins regulating mitochondrial quality control processes in cultured human myotubes. Primary human skeletal muscle cells were isolated from biopsies from lean, severely obese nondiabetic individuals and severely obese type 2 diabetic individuals ( = 8-9/group) and were differentiated to myotubes.