CoQ10 May Slow Parkinson's Progression

CoQ10 May Slow Parkinson's Progression

SAN DIEGO--Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) may slow theprogressive deterioration of function in Parkinson's disease, according to aphase II clinical trial published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Archives ofNeurology (59, 10:1541-1550, 2002) (http://archneur.ama-assn.org).With funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS),an arm of the National Institutes of Health, researchers led by Clifford Shults,M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, investigated the link betweenCoQ10 and Parkinson's disease.

According to a press release from NINDS, the investigatorsundertook this line of study due to previous research, conducted in part byShults, which demonstrated Parkinson's patients have reduced CoQ10 levels intheir mitochondria. Mitochondria, the body's energy-producing cells, requireCoQ10 to create cellular energy. In Parkinson's patients, reduced levels ofCoQ10 impair the production of cellular energy.

For the NINDS-funded study, Shults and colleagues enrolled 80early-stage Parkinson's patients, who all exhibited the three primary featuresof Parkinson's--tremor, stiffness and slowed movements. The patients weredivided into four groups, with three of the groups receiving CoQ10 in a dose of300 mg/d, 600 mg/d or 1,200 mg/d, as well as vitamin E, and the fourth groupreceiving placebo. Barring the development of disability that requiredpharmaceutical intervention, subjects underwent evaluation at baseline and everyfour months for 16 months.

CoQ10 was safe and well-tolerated at all doses, according toresearchers, and less disability developed in subjects assigned to treatmentthan those taking placebo. Researchers added that the benefits were greatest insubjects receiving the highest dosage--patients in the 1,200 mg/d group had44-percent less decline in mental function, motor function and the ability tocarry out daily activities. Patients taking smaller doses of CoQ10 alsodeveloped slightly less disability than the placebo group, but the effects werenot as significant as the high-dose group. The groups taking CoQ10 alsoexhibited significant increases in the levels of CoQ10 in their blood and asignificant increase in energy-producing reactions within their mitochondria.

The findings announced in Shults' study are consistent withprevious research conducted with CoQ10 on patients with early Huntington'sdisease, another neurological degenerative disorder, according to NINDS.Patients taking 600 mg/d of CoQ10 showed slightly less deterioration than thegroup taking placebo.

"[Shults was] looking at the progression and thedevelopment of the symptoms," said Hemmige Bhagavan, director of nutritionscience at Westbury, N.Y.-based Tishcon Corp., manufacturer of Q-Gel CoQ10,regarding the Parkinson's study. "Coenzyme Q10 was able to deter theprogression of symptoms. These neurologic disorders, like Huntington's andParkinson's, the basic pathology seems to be the same--free radicalpathology--so I wasn't surprised at all. ... This is very promising and perhapswill lead to some additional trials. This was a very carefully controlledtrial--double blind, placebo-controlled. This is like the gold standard studywhen you do a clinical trial. It is very exciting."

Editor's Note: The CoQ10 product used in this study was aspecial formulation developed by Enzymatic Therapy (www.enzy.com).The company produced a wafer form of its Vitaline CoQ10 with 1,200 mg of naturalCoQ10 and 1,200 mg of vitamin E, using a patent-pending manufacturing process toenhance absorption without use of excipients that can be neurologically harmfulat high doses.