Fig. 7.

Associations between intrinsic bioenergetic capacity and cytokine production. (A) Schematic illustrating the measurement of mitochondrial respiratory chain activity, mtDNA copy number (mtDNAcn, and the mitochondrial health index (MHI) from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). (B) Correlation between baseline mitochondrial measures and baseline and LPS-stimulated IL-6 and TNF-α responses shown as a heatmap with positive correlations (r) red and negative correlations blue. The correlation shown in the box marked with a “c” is shown in the next panel. (C) Correlation between baseline Complex IV (COX) activity measured in PBMCs and IL-6 levels at baseline (untreated) and after LPS stimulation (1 ​ng/mL) in all participants, and disaggregated by sex. (D) Schematic summarizing the overall correlation between mitochondrial function and cytokine response. Correlation coefficients (r) are derived from Pearson correlation analysis, n ​= ​39–42 (Women ​= ​15-18, Men ​= ​24). TCA: tricarboxylic acid cycle, also known as “Krebs cycleˮ. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)