Long-term nucleoside analogue exposures mainly induced mouse neuronal mtDNA major arc deletion.

<p>A. The number of captured neuron ND4 (mtDNA major arc) copies significantly decreased in the mice treated with D4T (50 mg/kg), AZT (100 mg/kg), 3TC (50 mg/kg) or DDI (50 mg/kg) for four months. But only AZT group had a decline in ND1 (mtDNA minor arc) copies. B. The numbers of ND4 and ND1 copies from captured glial cells had no significant changes in all four–month-NRTI-treatment groups except for D4T group in which the number of ND4 copies increased instead of reduction (“*” denoted <i>p</i><0.05, “**” denoted <i>p</i><0.01).