Mitochondrial damage is probably the cornerstone of the side effects of this class of antibiotics, for the following reasons: - Nerves, especially peripheral n

Mitochondrial damage is probably the cornerstone of the side effects of this class of antibiotics, for the following reasons: - Nerves, especially peripheral nerves, have some of the slowest mitochondrial replacement in the body. This makes them especially vulnerable compared to say the shortlived cells in your stomach lining. - Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are designed to attack bacterial gene replication, but they are known to attack mitochondrial gene replication as well. [0] - There's a surprisingly close resemblance between the diabetic symptoms caused by sustained high blood glucose and the side effects of fluoroquinolones - including tendinitis. That makes sense because mitochondria are the center of oxidative stress in the cell (due to their role in metabolism) and are also damaged, by a different mechanism, during periods of high blood sugar. [0] https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/46/18/9625/5088042 https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/46/18/9625/5088042