Antiretroviral therapy during development impairs cardiac reverse remodeling in a rodent model

Many regimens include nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), which are linked to mitochondrial and cardiac toxicity, raising concerns about effects on offspring heart development. Using a rat model, we show that in utero and lactational exposure to combination ART (cART) alters cardiac mitochondrial metabolism and impairs diastolic function later in life, with stronger effects in males.

These changes were accompanied by significant shifts in cardiac gene expression, suggesting that early-life ART exposure can disrupt metabolic programming in the developing heart with lasting consequences.Data herein include heart gene expression that was evaluated by RNA sequencing in rat pups treated with cART at weaning and 4 and 12 months later.