The MitoProfile® Biogenesis Dipstick Assay Kit is used to determine whether mitochondrial biogenesis has been up-regulated or down-regulated as a result of drug interactions or conditions such as oxidative stress and mitochondrial genetic disease.

MS631 is particularly suited for clinical evaluation of mitochondrial toxicity from antibiotic and antiviral drugs (see poster reference below), and has been approved by the FDA as an Investigational Use Only (IUO) device.

Compounds such as resveratrol and regimens such as caloric restriction have also been demonstrated to increase mitochondrial biogenesis in animal studies, and MS631 is suitable for studies of any such up-regulating factors in human cells or patient samples.

The principle of the assay is to compare the levels of Complex IV (cytochrome c oxidase), a mitochondrial enzyme which has 3 subunits encoded by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and made by mitochondrial ribosomes, with that of frataxin, a mitochondrial protein encoded by nuclear DNA and made by cytosolic ribosomes.