In vitro effect of different ubiquinones on the scavenging of biologically generated O2-.

The ability of different homologues of Coenzyme Q to quench O2- was tested in vitro with three experimental systems known to generate O2-. Two of them were biological generators, namely the xanthine-xanthine oxidase system and the cyanide-insensitive NADPH oxidase of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. The third was a chemical generator of O2-, the NADH-phenazine methosulphate-nitroblue tetrazolium mixture. Short-side-chain ubiquinones were found to be the most potent scavengers of O2-, being effective at concentrations as low as 10(-7) M. This finding might be ascribed to the relatively greater water-solubility of the lower homologues of CoQ. We postulate that CoQ10 may well exert such an O2- -scavenging mechanisms in vivo where it is inserted in its natural phospholipid environment.