Mitoquinone mesylate attenuates pathological features of lean and obese allergic asthma in mice

Obesity is associated with severe, difficult-to-control asthma, and increased airway oxidative stress. Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) are an important source of oxidative stress in asthma, leading us to hypothesize that targeting mROS in obese allergic asthma might be an effective treatment. Using a mouse model of house dust mite (HDM)-induced allergic airway disease in mice fed a low- (LFD) or high-fat diet (HFD), and the mitochondrial antioxidant MitoQuinone (MitoQ), we investigated the effects of obesity and ROS on HDM-induced airway inflammation, remodeling, and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Obese allergic mice showed increased lung tissue eotaxin, airway tissue eosinophilia, and AHR compared with lean allergic mice. MitoQ reduced airway inflammation, remodeling, and hyperreactivity in both lean and obese allergic mice, and tissue eosinophilia in obese-allergic mice. Similar effects were observed with decyl triphosphonium (dTPP