Department heading

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone) is an integral part of the respiratory chain of every cell in the human body and thus essential for energy production in the mitochondria. Humans can produce Q10 themselves; however, under certain pathological circumstances, they are dependent on supplementation with Q10.
In particular, cardiovascular diseases (including heart failure) are associated with low levels of Q10 and clinical studies have shown that supplementation can improve cardiac performance.
Interestingly, there is little data on the pharmacokinetics of this supplement in humans, only data from animal experiments (rat and guinea pig) are available. The metabolism of Q10 is similar to that of the lipophilic vitamins E and K.
Through successful in house synthesis of a Q10 metabolite, it is now possible to quantify this in cell culture as well as in human urine samples. For this purpose, an HPLC-MS method is to be developed in this project, with the background of measuring this biomarker in large-scale clinical studies and being able to make statements about the need for Q10.