Can the “little blue pill” get our cells up and running again?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science…
And we’re talking about Mitochondria, the tiny structures that power our cells. In the nightmarish Leigh syndrome, broken mitochondria cause weakness, loss of movement, and dangerous metabolic crashes. How can we treat it?
Enter Alessandro Prigione and team from Düsseldorf University. They screened thousands of existing drugs in patient cells.
You know what helped? Viagra. They tested it in sick mice and pigs, where it boosted energy and helped them live longer!
Most hopeful of all, six treated patients showed better movement and fewer metabolic crises!
But, see a physician if Mitochondria converts nutrients for longer than four hours.
Reference: Zink, A., Dai, D. F., Wittich, A., Henke, M. T., Pedrotti, G., Heiduschka, S., … & Prigione, A. (2026). Pluripotent stem-cell-based screening uncovers sildenafil as a mitochondrial disease therapy. Cell.