Document resource
Dated back to the 1970s, megamitochondria (giant mitochondria) were discovered in liver biopsy specimens from patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) using light and electron microscopy. Later, it was shown that patients with megamitochondria appear to be a subgroup of patients with ALD who have milder clinical symptoms, lower rates of cirrhosis, fewer complications and better long-term survival.1 In line with these observations in human ALD, megamitochondria were also found in experimental ALD models in rodents and in ethanol-treated precision-cut human liver slice cultures. However, the mechanisms by which alcohol induces megamitochondria formation and how megamitochondria impact the pathogenesis of ALD remain obscure, and this mystery has only begun to be gradually revealed recently.