MB is a better and safer ROS scavenger than NAC, MitoQ, and mTEM
In our study, we compared MB with three other ROS scavengers, including a widely used general antioxidant NAC, and two mitochondrial-specific antioxidants, MitoQ, and mTEM, and found that MB was the most effective,
mTEM was the next best at reducing mitochondrial ROS and promoting cell proliferation (Fig. 1). To our surprise, we observed no beneficial effects of NAC treatment and even adverse effects of MitoQ (Fig.
1). The discrepancy of our results with some previous reports might be due to the much longer-term treatments of NAC or MitoQ in this study than previous experiments11, 21, 33. As shown previously9, 10, 13, 14 and in Fig.
4, MB has been used in cells and animals for long-term experiments with little toxicity or irritation. Therefore, we suggest that MB is a much safer and more effective antioxidant than NAC, MitoQ, and mTEM for long-term application on skin fibroblasts.