Keeping mitochondria happy - benefits of a pore choice in acute pancreatitis Subsequent studies have shown that calcium-dependent mitochondrial dysfunction in response to AP precipitants also occurs in ductal cells, widening the cast of players implicated in the development of AP (Hegyi & Petersen, [2]). Furthermore, cyclophilin D knockout ( I ppif SP -/- sp i ) was not only protective against mitochondrial dysfunction and necrotic cell death caused by AP precipitants in isolated pancreatic acinar cells, in accord with previous results (Mukherjee I et al i .