ubiquinone and Muscular-Atrophy

Coenzyme Q10 (vitamin Q10) is biosynthesized in the human body and is functional in bioenergetics, anti-oxidation reactions, and in growth control, etc. It is indispensable to health and survival. The first double-blind trial was with twelve patients, ranging from 7-69 years of age, having diseases including the Duchenne, Becker, and the limb-girdle dystrophies, myotonic dystrophy. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and the Welander disease. The control coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) blood level was low and ranged from 0.5-0.84 microgram/ml. They were treated for three months with 100 mg daily of CoQ10 and a matching placebo. The second double-blind trial was similar with fifteen patients having the same categories of disease. Since cardiac disease is established to be associated with these muscle diseases, cardiac function was blindly monitored, and not one mistake was made in assigning CoQ10 and placebo to the patients in both trials. Definitely improved physical performance was recorded. In retrospect, a dosage of 100 mg was too low although effective and safe. Patients suffering from these muscle dystrophies and the like, should be treated with vitamin Q10 indefinitely.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease; Child; Coenzymes; Double-Blind Method; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Muscular Atrophy; Muscular Dystrophies; Myotonic Dystrophy; Ubiquinone

How breast cancer and its treatments affect skeletal muscle is not well defined. To address this question, we assessed skeletal muscle structure and protein expression in 13 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and receiving adjuvant chemotherapy following tumor resection and 12 nondiseased controls. Breast cancer patients showed reduced single-muscle fiber cross-sectional area and fractional content of subsarcolemmal and intermyofibrillar mitochondria. Drugs commonly used in breast cancer patients (doxorubicin and paclitaxel) caused reductions in myosin expression, mitochondrial loss, and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in C2C12 murine myotube cell cultures, supporting a role for chemotherapeutics in the atrophic and mitochondrial phenotypes. Additionally, concurrent treatment of myotubes with the mitochondrial-targeted antioxidant MitoQ prevented chemotherapy-induced myosin depletion, mitochondrial loss, and ROS production. In patients, reduced mitochondrial content and size and increased expression and oxidation of peroxiredoxin 3, a mitochondrial peroxidase, were associated with reduced muscle fiber cross-sectional area. Our results suggest that chemotherapeutics may adversely affect skeletal muscle in patients and that these effects may be driven through effects of these drugs on mitochondrial content and/or ROS production.

Topics: Aged; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Cachexia; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Mice; Middle Aged; Muscle, Skeletal; Muscular Atrophy; Myosins; Organophosphorus Compounds; Oxidative Stress; Peroxiredoxin III; Reactive Oxygen Species; Ubiquinone

We previously found that mitochondrial dysfunction occurs in disuse-induced muscle atrophy. However, the mitochondrial remodeling that occurs during reloading, an effective approach for rescuing unloading-induced atrophy, remains to be investigated. In this study, using a rat model of 3-week hindlimb unloading plus 7-day reloading, we found that reloading protected mitochondria against dysfunction, including mitochondrial loss, abnormal mitochondrial morphology, inhibited biogenesis, and activation of mitochondria-associated apoptotic signaling. Interestingly, a combination of nutrients, including α-lipoic acid, acetyl-L-carnitine, hydroxytyrosol, and CoQ10, which we designed to target mitochondria, was able to efficiently rescue muscle atrophy via a reloading-like action. It is suggested that reloading ameliorates skeletal muscle atrophy through the activation of mitochondrial biogenesis and the amelioration of oxidative stress. Nutrient administration acted similarly in unloaded rats. Here, the study of mitochondrial remodeling in rats during unloading and reloading provides a more detailed picture of the pathology of muscle atrophy.

Topics: Acetylcarnitine; Animals; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial Turnover; Muscular Atrophy; Muscular Disorders, Atrophic; Oxidative Stress; Phenylethyl Alcohol; Rats; Signal Transduction; Thioctic Acid; Ubiquinone