Scientists found that aging cells may lose energy partly because levels of phosphatidylcholine, a key membrane lipid, decline with age.
This makes mitochondria less flexible, more fragmented, and less efficient, basically weakening the cell’s internal power grid.
Remarkably, when researchers boosted phosphatidylcholine or its precursor choline in aging lab organisms, mitochondrial structure and energy function improved, suggesting that some parts of cellular aging may be reversible.a