HealthDay News — Patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) have reduced levels of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), according to a study published in JAMA Neurology.
Jun Mitsui, MD, PhD, from the University of Tokyo, and colleagues compared levels of plasma CoQ10 in patients with MSA and matched controls. Forty-four patients with MSA and 39 controls, matched for age, sex, and COQ2 genotype, were enrolled. MSA was diagnosed on the basis of the second consensus criteria by 2 or more neurologists.
The researchers found that the mean plasma level of CoQ10 was lower in patients with MSA than controls (0.51 versus 0.72 µg/mL; P = 0.01). In patients with the cerebellar and parkinsonian variants of MSA, the mean plasma levels of CoQ10 were 0.58 and 0.49 µg/mL, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the levels of plasma CoQ10 and MSA after adjustment for age, sex, and COQ2 genotype (P = 0.02).
“Our data showed decreased levels of plasma CoQ10 in patients with MSA regardless of the COQ2 genotype, supporting a hypothesis that supplementation with CoQ10 is beneficial for patients with MSA,” the authors write.
