Table 1.

Cellular effects of nucleosidic reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and carnitine

	Toxicity of NRTIs	References	Effect of carnitine	References
Metabolism	Impairment of β-oxidation cycle	[1]	Long-chain fatty acids carrier	[55]
	Accumulation of long-chain fatty acids into the cytosol	[34]	Protection of cytochrome c oxidase from octanoic acid-induced damage	[61]
	Decrease in ATP concentration	[32]	Cofactor of the electron chain from complex I-V	[60]
	Decreased electron-chain transport	[32]
	γDNA polymerase damage	[33]
	NAD+/NADH impairment
Apoptosis	Increased apoptosis	[36-38]	Decreased global apoptosis	[44-46]
	Overexpression of the receptor Fas	[38]	Decreased ceramide generation	[46,49-52]
			Decreased mitochondrial apoptosis	[49]
			Link with Bcl2?	[50]

NAD⁺, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; NADH, reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide