The Effect of Coenzyme Q10 as a Part of Standard Therapy on Plasma Concentrations of Ubiquinol, Ubiquinone, Total CoQ10 and its Redox State in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

Background: Despite CoQ10 being a powerful antioxidant and its redox state that may characterize the body’s antioxidant system, the latter remains unstudied in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Objective: This prospective case-control study aimed to investigate the concentrations of ubiquinol, ubiquinone, total CoQ10 and its redox state in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and arterial hypertension (AH) during standard therapy and with the additional prescription of CoQ10. Methods: The study included 54 healthy individuals and 26 patients, who were divided into a control group receiving standard therapy and a test group receiving CoQ10 in addition to standard therapy. Quantitative determination of COQ10, ubiquinone and ubiquinol was carried out by HPLC-MS/MS. Results: It was found that the CoQ10 level in patients was significantly lower than in healthy individuals (on average -32Δ%). In the test group, after treatment, the concentrations of ubiquinol (+53 Δ%), ubiquinone (-28 Δ%), total CoQ10 (+27 Δ%) and redox state (+112 Δ%) were significantly different from the baseline, while in the control group no significant differences were noticed. In the test group after treatment, the levels of total CoQ10 (+25 Δ%), ubiquinol (+43 Δ%), and redox state (+86 Δ%) were statistically significantly higher than in the control group and total CoQ10 concentration did not significantly differ from that in healthy individuals (-12 Δ%). Conclusion: The additional prescription of CoQ10 for patients with IHD significantly increases the level of total CoQ10, which leads to the increase of body antioxidant potential.