Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

Therapeutic role of coenzyme Q(10) in Parkinson's disease.

Shults CW

Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. cshults@ucsd.edu

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been well established to occur in Parkinson's disease (PD) and appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of the disorder. A key component of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) is coenzyme Q(10), which not only serves as the electron acceptor for complexes I and II of the ETC but is also an antioxidant. In addition to being crucial to the bioenergetics of the cell, mitochondria play a central role in apoptotic cell death through a number of mechanisms, and coenzyme Q(10) can affect certain of these processes. Levels of coenzyme Q(10) have been reported to be decreased in blood and platelet mitochondria from PD patients. A number of preclinical studies in in vitro and in vivo models of PD have demonstrated that coenzyme Q(10) can protect the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. A phase II trial of coenzyme Q(10) in patients with early, untreated PD demonstrated a positive trend for coenzyme Q(10) to slow progressive disability that occurs in PD.

Published 20 June 2005 in Pharmacol Ther, 107(1): 120-30.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Parkinson's Disease Research Today. All Rights Reserved.