Micro-analysis for coenzyme Q10 in endomyocardial biopsies of cardiac patients and data on bovine and canine hearts.

A micro-analysis was designed for determining the levels of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in specimens of ca. 500 nanograms of myocardial tissues. The prime steps included acetone extraction, purification by thin-layer chromatography, and HPLC. CoQ11 was the internal standard. This methodology was successful for human endomyocardial biopsies from cardiac patients before and after therapy with CoQ10 and has now been used for canine and bovine tissues. The mean canine CoQ10 level from six specimens from the left ventricle (l.v.) of a single animal is 0.99 +/- 0.06 micrograms/mg/d.w. The mean levels of the tissues from nine animals is 1.04 +/- 0.17 (l.v.) and 1.11 +/- 0.16 (r.v.). The mean bovine level from seven animals was 0.48 +/- 0.12 (l.v.) and 0.68 +/- 0.06 (r.v.).