Affiliations: Cardiologia Riabilitativa Lancisi, Azienda Ospedali
Riuniti, Ancona, Italy | Istituto di Biochimica, Università Politecnica
delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Gian Paolo Littarru, Institute of
Biochemistry, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Tel.: +39 071 220 4674; Fax:
+39 071 2801932; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Reactive oxygen species seem to play an important role in vascular
homeostasis. In conditions of high oxidative stress, such as chronic heart
failure and multiple coronary risk factors, the rate of inactivation of nitric
oxide to peroxynitrite by superoxide anions may be reduced by
CoQ_{10}, which can also protect against nitrosative damage.
CoQ_{10} may also influence vascular function indirectly via
inhibition of oxidative damage to LDL. Patients with lower levels of
extracellular superoxide dismutase (ecSOD) demonstrate greater improvements
than patients with normal ec-SOD levels, suggesting that the higher the
oxidative stress the greater the improvement in the endothelium-dependent
relaxation after the administration of a compound with antioxidant properties
like CoQ_{10}. Future studies are needed to inquire whether
these effects may translate into benefits in clinical practice.
