A chemical called hydrazine, which the body makes when it breaks down a tuberculosis drug, can damage liver cells by disrupting energy production in mitochondria. When combined with another drug (efavirenz), this damage gets worse—but if you stop hydrazine from forming, the liver cells don’t die.

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Community contributions welcome

12

Bypassing the compromised mitochondrial electron transport with methylene blue alleviates efavirenz/isoniazid-induced oxidant stress and mitochondria-mediated cell death in mouse hepatocytes

Case-Control Study

Animal

2014

When taken together, two drugs (isoniazid and efavirenz) can hurt the liver because one of them turns into a harmful substance called hydrazine that breaks down energy production in liver cells. Stopping hydrazine from forming stops the damage.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Bypassing the compromised mitochondrial electron transport with methylene blue alleviates efavirenz/isoniazid-induced oxidant stress and mitochondria-mediated cell death in mouse hepatocytes

Score: 12

DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2014.03.003

Similar Assertions

A drug called efavirenz can block a key energy process in mouse liver cells at a specific dose, and while it doesn’t hurt the cells by itself, it makes them much more likely to get damaged when combined with another drug called isoniazid.

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When two specific drugs are taken together, they can damage liver cells in mice by disrupting their energy factories and causing cell death — but each drug alone, at the same dose, doesn't do anything harmful. This means the danger only shows up when both are present.

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