 Mitochondrial toxicity

Mitochondrial toxicity is a condition in which the mitochondria of a body's cells become damaged or decline significantly in number; it occurs as a side effect of certain antiretroviral drugs used to treat human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.While the exact causes of mitochondrial toxicity are unknown, research has shown that a certain group of anti-viral drugs used to treat HIV, specifically nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), interfere with an enzyme needed in the production of mitochondria.