Fig. 4
From: Therapeutic non-invasive brain treatments in Alzheimer’s disease: recent advances and challenges
Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the mitochondria. Under physiological conditions, a small number of electrons (dotted red line) leak out of the ETC and are transferred to oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, in pathological situations, mitochondrial dysfunction and the impaired mitochondrial complex activity induce significantly increased ROS production. This leads to deleterious effects and a vicious cycle causing neuroinflammation, mitochondrial damage, energy depletion, neuronal damage, and cell death