HIV-infected H9 t-cell. Credit: NIAID
MitoQ, a publicly accessible dietary supplement that acts as a mitochondrial antioxidant, was discovered through a mouse study to counteract the harmful impacts that HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) inflict on the mitochondria within the brain, heart, aorta, lungs, kidney, and liver.
The research team employed a molecular technique to calculate the proportion between human and murine mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (ntDNA), a key indicator of mitochondrial dysfunction. A decrease in this ratio signals impaired mitochondrial function. Relative to their healthy counterparts, mice infected with HIV and treated with ART demonstrated mitochondrial dysfunction in