Effect of ubidecarenone oral treatment on aerobic power in middle-aged trained subjects

Background. Coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)) plays an important role in oxidative m ithocondrial phosphorylation and prevents lipid peroxidation in biological membranes, During sustained physical exercise, reactive oxygen species (ROS ) production increase through several mechanism; one of them is the purine nucleotide cycle activation by shifting xanthine-dehydrogenase to xanthine- oxidase during AMP breakdown, The aim of this study was to evaluate the eff ect of CoQ(10) treatment on aerobic power. Methods. Experimental design: according to a single blind study design, 28 health male cyclists were randomized into two groups (CoQ(10) or placebo) a nd remained on treatments for eight weeks; there were 5 drop-outs and only 23 subjects were completely evaluated. Before and at the end of the eight w eeks, cyclists underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Measures: a soft ware system performed the necessary calculations to obtain the following pa rameters: oxygen uptake, CO2 production, minute ventilation, oxygen ventila tory equivalent, carbon dioxide ventilatory equivalent, oxygen pulse, Final ly oxygen peak and anaerobic threshold were determined. Moreover blood inos ine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, lactate and CoQ(10) levels were measured befor e and immediately after each test. Results, The results of this study showed that at the end of the eight week s there was no difference between the two groups concerning physiological a nd metabolic parameters, but muscular exhaustion was reached at higher work loads in the coQ(10) group. Conclusions. In our experience ubidecarenone oral treatment does not improv e aerobic power, The little improvement of tolerance to higher workloads ma y be due to the antioxidant activity of CoQ(10).