Relative bioavailability of coenzyme Q10 formulation for paediatric individualized therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Conduct a preliminary comparison of the bioavailability between two formulations: commercial grade coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) powder (solid formulation) and a new oil-in-water liquid emulsion and their effect on other antioxidants. METHODS: Six healthy individuals participated in a randomized, crossover, open, consecutive design, with a 2-week washout period. Pharmacokinetic parameters were assessed after a single and multiple intakes of 250 mg CoQ10 given daily for 1 week. KEY FINDINGS: The differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of maximum plasma concentration, area under the curve between 0-360 and 0-4 h, elimination half-life were statistically significant with a relative bioavailability of 489% increase over solid CoQ10 formulation. A multiple dose supplementation increased plasma CoQ10 levels in both formulations, liquid emulsion performing better (2.4- vs 3.9-fold for solid and liquid formulation, respectively) without modifications on other antioxidants. Furthermore, the plasma CoQ10 at 7th day was statistically different between formulations (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained showed that liquid emulsion improves the bioavailability of CoQ10 respect to solid form which not only facilitates the individualized administration for the child but in turn could increase the therapeutic efficacy, which should be confirmed by further studies.

A novel non-invasive sampling method using buccal mucosa cells for determination of coenzyme Q10.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an important cofactor in the mitochondrial respiratory chain and a potent endogenous antioxidant. CoQ10 deficiency is often associated with numerous diseases, and patients can benefit from CoQ10 supplementation, being more effective when diagnosed and treated early. Due to the increased interest in CoQ10 deficiency, several methods for CoQ10 analysis from plasmatic, muscular, fibroblast, and platelet matrices have been developed. These sampling techniques are not only highly invasive but also too traumatic for periodic clinical monitoring. In the present work, we describe the development and validation of a novel non-invasive sampling method for quantification of CoQ10 in buccal mucosa cells (BMCs) by microHPLC. This method is suitable for using in a routine laboratory and useful for sampling patients in pediatry. CoQ10 correlation was demonstrated between BMCs and plasma levels (Spearman r, 0.4540; p < 0.001). The proposed method is amenable to be applied in the post treatment monitoring, especially in pediatric patients as a non-invasive sample collection. More studies are needed to assess whether this determination could be used for diagnosis and if this matrix could replace the traditional ones.