Role of PGC-1α in the Mitochondrial NAD Pool in Metabolic Diseases.

Mitochondria play vital roles, including ATP generation, regulation of cellular metabolism, and cell survival. Mitochondria contain the majority of cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), which an essential cofactor that regulates metabolic function. A decrease in both mitochondria biogenesis and NAD is a characteristic of metabolic diseases, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1-α (PGC-1α) orchestrates mitochondrial biogenesis and is involved in mitochondrial NAD pool. Here we discuss how PGC-1α is involved in the NAD synthesis pathway and metabolism, as well as the strategy for increasing the NAD pool in the metabolic disease state.