Mitochondria and the Sun’s Special Nourishment

About a month ago, I finally got around to reading Kazuo Ishiguro's latest book Klara and the Sun, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. The story is centered around Klara, an AF or artificial friend "robot", if you will, that was designed to resemble a human girl. It begins almost akin to a creation epic, "when we were new," with Klara and other AFs waiting to be purchased in a store. Klara is a solar-powered AF that glorifies the sun as a powerful deity. "So once the grid went up, the realization that there was now only the glass between me and the sidewalk, that I was free to see, close up and whole, so many things I'd seen before only as corners and edges, made me so excited that for a moment I nearly forgot about the Sun and his kindness to us." One day in the store, Klara observes a homeless man from the window, and sees that he and his dog have been in the same position for a very long time. As the store is closing, she is saddened because she believes they must be dead. But "the next morning the grid went up and it was a most splendid day. The Sun was pouring his nourishment onto the street and into the buildings, and when I looked over to the spot where Beggar Man and the dog had died, I saw they weren't dead at all- that a special kind of nourishment from the Sun had saved them...They were both hungrily absorbing the Sun's special nourishment and becoming stronger by the minute, and I saw that before long, perhaps even by that afternoon, Beggar Man would be on his feet again, cheerfully exchanging remarks as always from the blank doorway." When Klara is purchased, she becomes a companion to a girl with a serious illness, and believes the sun's "special nourishment" will save her as it did Beggar Man. I can talk about this book for hours, particularly if I have a glass of wine and a captive audience, but one of several themes in the book, in my opinion, may be the implications of advanced, even sentient, technology in the hands of an ego-driven, isolated, entitled, apathetic human psyche. There's a John Steinbeck quote that I think of from time to time from Travels with Charley: In Search of America: "I wonder why progress looks so much like destruction." And an E.E. Cummings line "A world of made is not a world of born" comes to mind. 

I think of Klara's simple reverence of the sun as fuel to her existence and our present technologically-driven, artificially-lit, complex built world — 8 hours with a blue light computer beaming at your retinas — and the explosion of chronic illnesses like diabetes. At the same time I was reading this book, I was also reading papers that are emerging about diabetes and mitochondria. Mitochondrial dysfunction appears to be a common occurrence in many diseases and light therapy happens to rectify this. Here's a brief overview of some of the papers I've come across. I always encourage anyone to dive further into these topics because there's so much material out there that can supplement the small amount of research I share on here.

The 2021 paper Does Metformin Modulate Mitochondrial Dynamics and Function in Type 2 Diabetic Patients? found: "Leukocytes from T2D patients displayed higher total and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species levels, lower mitochondrial membrane potential, and lower oxygen consumption. Moreover, their mitochondria expressed lower mRNA and protein levels of fusion proteins MFN1, MFN2 and optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), and higher protein and gene expression levels of mitochondrial fission protein 1 and dynamin-related protein 1. In addition, we observed enhanced leukocyte/endothelial interactions in T2D patients. Metformin reversed most of these effects, ameliorating mitochondrial function and dynamics, and reducing the leukocyte/endothelial interactions observed in T2D patients. These results raise the question of whether metformin tackled T2D by improving mitochondrial dysfunction and regulating mitochondrial dynamics."

A paper by the same author the following year exudes more confidence: 2022's Metformin modulates mitochondrial function and mitophagy in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from type 2 diabetic patients concludes: "These results demonstrate that metformin improves mitochondrial function, restores the levels of ETC complexes, and enhances AMPK activation and mitophagy, suggesting beneficial clinical implications in the treatment of type 2 diabetes."

The 2018 study Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species and Type 1 Diabetes states: "Mitochondrial dysfunction in beta cells and immune cells may be involved in T1D pathogenesis. Mitochondrial energy production is essential for the major task of beta cells (the secretion of insulin in response to glucose). Mitochondria are a major site of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Under immune attack, mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) participate in beta cell damage. Similarly, T cell fate during immune responses is tightly regulated by mitochondrial physiology, morphology, and metabolism. Production of mtROS is essential for signaling in antigen T-cell activation. Mitochondrial dysfunction in T cells has been noted as a feature of some human autoimmune diseases. Preclinical and clinical studies indicate that mitochondrial dysfunction in beta cells sensitizes these cells to immune-mediated destruction via direct or indirect mechanisms. Sensitivity of beta cells to mtROS is associated with genetic T1D risk in human and the T1D-prone non-obese diabetic mouse. Mitochondrial dysfunction and altered metabolism have also been observed in immune cells of non-obese diabetic mice and patients with T1D."

The 2020 paper Impairment of mitochondrial function by particulate matter: implications for the brain noted: "In 2016, the World Health Organization reported that 92% of the world live in areas where air pollution levels exceed safety guidelines, resulting in three million deaths annually...Epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies investigating the effects of ROFA, PAH and PM on the respiratory, cardiovascular systems, and, most recently, brain health are converging on adverse effects on mitochondrial function. Namely, oxidative stress, perturbed metabolism and inflammation trigger and orchestrate signaling pathways leading to cell death and eventual system failure...Therapeutic intervention to restore brain health remains in its infancy. Given the importance of mitochondria on cellular health, it can be postulated that targeting mitochondrial signaling pathways may present an avenue for intervention...The mitochondria are without a doubt a key target of air pollutants that should be investigated further in hopes of targeting the adverse health effects of exposure."

The 2024 paper Light Stimulation of Mitochondria Reduces Blood Glucose Levels notes "Mitochondria regulate metabolism, but solar light influences its rate. Photobiomodulation (PBM) with red light (670 nm) increases mitochondrial membrane potentials and adenosine triphosphate production and may increase glucose demand. Here we show, with a glucose tolerance test, that PBM of normal subjects significantly reduces blood sugar levels. At 15 min exposure to 670 nm light reduced the degree of blood glucose elevation following glucose intake by 27.7% integrated over 2 hr after the glucose challenge. Maximum glucose spiking was reduced by 7.5%. Consequently, PBM with 670nm light can be used to reduce blood glucose levels following meals. This intervention may reduce damaging fluctuations of blood glucose on the body."

The 2021 paper Effectivity of Sunbathing Therapy for Reducing Blood Glucose Levels on Respondents Over 40 Years Old found: "Sunbathing activity could convert pro-vitamin D into vitamin D to maintain pancreas for controlling blood glucose...The research revealed that sunbathing therapy in the morning for 10 minutes at 9:00-9:10am within seven days could reduce blood glucose levels effectively on respondents aged over 40 years."

The 2010 paper A role for taurine in mitochondrial function found: "Taurine depletion caused by hyperglycemia could provide a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and diabetes."

The 2021 paper The Role of Taurine in Mitochondria Health: More Than Just an Antioxidant states: "Taurine is a naturally occurring sulfur-containing amino acid that is found abundantly in excitatory tissues, such as the heart, brain, retina and skeletal muscles. Taurine was first isolated in the 1800s, but not much was known about this molecule until the 1990s...Accumulating studies have shown that taurine supplementation also protects against pathologies associated with mitochondrial defects, such as aging, mitochondrial diseases, metabolic syndrome, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders...As evidenced in many in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on taurine supplementation, the occurrence of mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced energy production, oxidative stress and apoptosis are mostly inhibited. Taurine therapy, therefore, could potentially improve mitochondrial health..."

The 2019 paper Mitochondria as Potential Targets and Initiators of the Blue Light Hazard to the Retina states: "Mitochondria are abundant in retinal tissues, which have more access to blue light, and the mitochondrial respiratory chain contains chromophores that absorb blue light. As a consequence, excessive blue light exposure breaks the delicate balance between the oxidant and antioxidant systems within mitochondria via photochemical effects, leading to ROS accumulation and oxidative stress...mitochondria are likely to be the potential targets and initiators of the blue light hazard to the retina..."

The 2017 paper Aging Retinal Function is Improved by Near Infrared Light (670nm) that is Associated with Corrected Mitochondrial Decline found "Aged mitochondrial function is corrected with near infrared light (670nm) that improves their membrane potentials and adenosine triphosphate production and also reduces age-related inflammation...Our data suggest, 670nm light can significantly improve aged retinal function, perhaps by providing addition adenosine triphosphate production..."

The 2004 paper Mitochondrial signal transduction in accelerated wound and retinal healing by near-infrared light therapy states: "Photobiomodulation by light in the red to near infrared range (630-1000nm) using low energy lasers or LED arrays has been shown to accelerate wound healing, improve recovery from ischemic injury in the heart and attenuate degeneration in the injured optic nerve...These findings provide a link between the actions of red to near infrared light on mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in vitro and cell injury in vivo. Based on these findings and the strong evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of numerous disease processed, we propose that NIR-LED photobiomodulation represents an innovative and non-invasive therapeutic approach for the treatment of tissue injury and disease processes in which mitochondrial dysfunction is postulated to play a role, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy and Parkinson's disease."

The 2019 study Efficacy of low level infrared light therapy on wound healing in patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers: a randomized control trial found: "It is shown that infrared plus routine dressing is more effective than merely routine dressing in diabetic foot ulcers and there was a significant difference in reduction of ulcer size in study group."

The 2022 paper Grounding - The universal anti-inflammatory remedy notes: "Grounding or earthing the body is having direct contact with the natural electric charge of the earth (electrons)...Grounding provides a primary source of cellular restoration and energy by supporting the mitochondria or microscopic power plants that provide energy to the cells...Earthing may perhaps be a way to transfer electrons and fortify mitochondria, thus contributing to optimum levels of ATP to our cells."

The 2015 paper The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases says: "Multi-disciplinary research has revealed that electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth (grounding or Earthing) produced intriguing effects on physiology and health..." The paper highlights an 84 year-old diabetic woman refractory to previous treatments for an open ankle wound experiencing pain relief, resolution of a limp, and healing of the wound with 30 minute grounding sessions for 2 weeks.

An interesting 2009 paper I've had saved on my phone for years - Imaging of Ultraweak Spontaneous Photo Emission from Human Body Displaying Diurnal Rhythm: "The human body literally glimmers. The intensity of the light emitted by the body is 1000 times lower than the sensitivity of our naked eyes. Ultraweak photo emission is known as the energy released as light through the changes in energy metabolism. We successfully imaged the diurnal change of this ultraweak photo emission with an improved highly sensitive imaging system using cyrogenic charge-coupled device camera. We found that the human body directly and rhythmically emits light. The diurnal changes in photo emission might be linked to changes in energy metabolism."