Coenzyme Q10 supplementation in acute ischemic stroke: Is it beneficial in short-term administration?

Abstract

Backgrounds and aims: Clinical studies demonstrated that the efficacy of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) as an adjuvant therapeutic agent in several neurological diseases such as Parkinson disease (PD), Huntington disease (HD), and migraine. The purpose of this study is to investigate oxidative stress effects, antioxidant enzymes activity, neuroinflammatory markers levels, and neurological outcome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients following administration of CoQ10 (300 mg/day).

Methods: Patients with AIS (n = 60) were randomly assigned to a placebo group (wheat starch, n = 30) or CoQ10-supplemented group (300 mg/day, n = 30). The intervention was administered for 4 weeks. Serum CoQ10 concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels as primary outcomes and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Modified Ranking Scale (MRS), and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) as secondary outcome were measured at the both beginning and end of the study.

Results: Forty-four subjects with AIS completed the intervention study. A significant increase in CoQ10 level was observed in the supplement-treated group compared with placebo group (mean difference = 26.05 ± 26.63 ng/ml, 14.12 ± 14.69 ng/ml, respectively; P = 0.01), moreover CoQ10 supplementation improved NIHSS and MMSE scores significantly (P = 0.05, P = 0.03 respectively). but there were no statistically significant differences in MRS score, MDA, SOD, and GFAP levels between the two groups.

Conclusions: CoQ10 probably due to low dose and short duration of supplementation, no favorable effects on MDA level, SOD activity and GFAP level.

Keywords:

• Coenzyme Q10(ubiquinone)
• Oxidative stress
• Acute ischemic stroke
• Neurological deficit
• Supplement

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Etrat Hooshmandi for collaboration in laboratory test. We express our appreciation to all patients who participated in the study.

Disclaimer statements

Contributors None.

Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors

Conflicts of interest None.

Ethics approval The study has been approved by the ethics committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (ethics committee number: IR.SBMU.RETECH.REC.1396.426). Furthermore, this double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial was registered in the Iranian registry of clinical trials (number: IRCT2017041731773N1).