Therapeutic Effect of the Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidant SkQ1 on the Culture Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Figure 4

The hypothetic scheme of events induced by LPS in the primary oligodendrocyte culture of cerebellar explants considering the published data. Shown are oligodendrocytes in normal (pink) and pathological (white) states, LPS-initiated microglia (olive) transformed into activated microglia (dark lilac), and the expressed iNOS enzyme producing NO that activates the NOX enzyme (magenta pentagon) making the initial burst of ROS. The appearance of NO and ROS results in generating RNS; mitochondria (framed) with the indicated respiratory complexes I and IV, which mainly produce ROS in them after being toxified by RNS [45]. Blue arrows show transitions from normal to pathological states. Antioxidant SkQ1 (light-green) scavenges ROS and thus decreases the microglia activation, earlier identified as a critical factor contributing to multiple neurodegenerative diseases. For details, see the text.