Figure 7.

DFO blocked HIV-1 Tat-, gp120-, and CQ-induced increases in the accumulation of damaged mitochondrial fragments inside endolysosomes. (A) Representative fluorescence microscopy reconstructed (using Imaris 3D software) images showed late endosome–early lysosome (endolysosome) LAMP-1 RFP (red puncta), mitochondria (CellLight transfection, green), damaged mitochondrial fragments inside endolysosome (yellow puncta) and nuclei (blue). Qualitatively, HIV-1 Tat, gp120, and CQ increased the accumulation of damaged mitochondria fragments inside endolysosomes, and DFO blocked these increases. (B) Quantitatively, DFO blocked the accumulation of damaged mitochondrial fragments inside endolysosomes increased by CQ (30 µM), Tat (100 nM), and gp120 (1 nM). Image analysis and quantification was performed from five independent experiments with 30 cells quantified for each experimental condition (n = 150). Error bars represent standard deviation (SD) of five independent experiments. A one-way ANOVA multiple comparisons test was used to compare control and treatment groups. Cells were chosen randomly during image acquisition and analysis from the microscope field of view, and no cells were intentionally excluded. Scale bars are 10 µm for the image and 2 µm for the inset. *** p < 0.001 and **** p < 0.0001.