ubiquinone-9 and Inflammation

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common severe joint disease that affects all age groups, it is thus of great importance to develop new strategies for its treatment. The aim of the present study was to examine the combined effect of coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀) and methotrexate (MTX) on the progression of adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats. Adjuvant arthritis (AA) was induced by a single intradermal injection of heat-inactivated Mycobacterium butyricum in incomplete Freund's adjuvant. The experiments included healthy animals, arthritic animals not treated, arthritic animals treated with CoQ₁₀, with methotrexate, and with a combination of CoQ₁₀ and methotrexate. The two latter groups received a daily oral dose of 20 mg/kg b.w. of CoQ₁₀, either alone or with methotrexate in an oral dose of 0.3 mg/kg b.w. twice a week. We found that CoQ₁₀ potentiated both the antiarthritic (decrease of hind paw volume) and the antioxidant effect of methotrexate on the level of oxidation of proteins (suppression of protein carbonyl level in plasma) as well as lipoperoxidation (suppression of levels of HNE-adducts and MDA-adducts to plasma proteins). The same effect was observed for plasmatic levels of CoQ₉ and IL-1α, and partially also for γ-glutamyltransferase activity assessed in joints and spleen. Moreover, the combination therapy improved the functionality of peripheral blood neutrophils in AA, with a balancing effect on the immunosuppression caused by MTX monotherapy. In summary, combined administration of CoQ₁₀ and methotrexate suppressed arthritic progression in rats more effectively than did MTX alone. This finding may help improve treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Topics: Animals; Arthritis, Experimental; Drug Therapy, Combination; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Inflammation; Interleukin-1alpha; Lipid Peroxidation; Male; Methotrexate; Oxidative Stress; Rats; Ubiquinone

Dietary coenzyme Q(10) prolongs life span of rats fed on a PUFAn-6-enriched diet. Our aim was to analyze changes in the levels of plasma proteins of rats fed on a PUFAn-6 plus coenzyme Q(10)-based diet. This approach could give novel insights into the mechanisms of life span extension by dietary coenzyme Q(10) in the rat. Serum albumin, which decreases with aging in the rat, was significantly increased by coenzyme Q(10) supplementation both at 6 and 24 months. After depletion of the most abundant proteins by affinity chromatography, levels of less abundant plasma proteins were also studied by using 2D-electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass fingerprinting analysis. Our results have shown that lifelong dietary supplementation with coenzyme Q(10) induced significant decreases of plasma hemopexin, apolipoprotein H and inter-alpha-inhibitor H4P heavy chain (at both 6 and 24 months), preprohaptoglobin, fibrinogen gamma-chain precursor, and fetuin-like protein (at 6 months), and alpha-1-antitrypsin precursor and type II peroxiredoxin (at 24 months). On the other hand, coenzyme Q(10) supplementation resulted in significant increases of serine protease inhibitor 3, vitamin D-binding protein (at 6 months), and Apo A-I (at 24 months). Our results support a beneficial role of dietary coenzyme Q(10) decreasing oxidative stress and cardiovascular risk, and modulating inflammation during aging.

Topics: Animals; Blood Proteins; Cardiovascular Diseases; Coenzymes; Dietary Supplements; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; Inflammation; Longevity; Male; Oxidative Stress; Proteome; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Ubiquinone