Volume 1201, Issue 1 p. 96-103
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Animal and human studies with the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ

Robin A.J. Smith

Robin A.J. Smith

Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

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Michael P. Murphy

Michael P. Murphy

MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Wellcome Trust-MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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First published: 21 July 2010
Citations: 416
Address for correspondence: Dr. Michael P. Murphy, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Wellcome Trust-MRC Building Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0XY, UK. [email protected]

Abstract

As mitochondrial oxidative damage contributes to a wide range of human diseases, antioxidants designed to be accumulated by mitochondria in vivo have been developed. The most extensively studied of these mitochondria-targeted antioxidants is MitoQ, which contains the antioxidant quinone moiety covalently attached to a lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cation. MitoQ has now been used in a range of in vivo studies in rats and mice and in two phase II human trials. Here, we review what has been learned from these animal and human studies with MitoQ.