Beneficial Effect of Ubiquinol on Hematological and Inflammatory Signaling during Exercise

Abstract

Strenuous exercise (any activity that expends six metabolic equivalents per minute or more causing sensations of fatigue and exhaustion to occur, inducing deleterious effects, affecting negatively different cells), induces muscle damage and hematological changes associated with high production of pro-inflammatory mediators related to muscle damage and sports anemia. The objective of this study was to determine whether short-term oral ubiquinol supplementation can prevent accumulation of inflammatory mediators and hematological impairment associated to strenuous exercise. For this purpose, 100 healthy and well-trained firemen were classified in two groups: Ubiquinol (experimental group), and placebo group (control). The protocol was two identical strenuous exercise tests with rest period between tests of 24 h. Blood samples were collected before supplementation (basal value) (T1), after supplementation (T2), after first physical exercise test (T3), after 24 h of rest (T4), and after second physical exercise test (T5). Hematological parameters, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and growth factors were measured. Red blood cells (RBC), hematocrit, hemoglobin, VEGF, NO, EGF, IL-1ra, and IL-10 increased in the ubiquinol group while IL-1, IL-8, and MCP-1 decreased. Ubiquinol supplementation during high intensity exercise could modulate inflammatory signaling, expression of pro-inflammatory, and increasing some anti-inflammatory cytokines. During exercise, RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit, VEGF, and EGF increased in ubiquinol group, revealing a possible pro-angiogenic effect, improving oxygen supply and exerting a possible protective effect on other physiological alterations.

Sprint interval training (SIT) reduces serum epidermal growth factor (EGF), but not other inflammatory cytokines in trained older men

“…> 1 month) on EGF in older men. However, Accattato et al ( 2017 ) established a single bout of endurance exercise (20 min run at 70% VO 2peak ) acutely suppresses EGF in younger individuals, yet resistance training has been shown to acutely increase EGF in healthy trained men (Diaz-Castro et al 2020 ). Thus, it is clear the type of exercise (resistance vs endurance) influences EGF response after a period of training as recent studies in C2C12 myotubes have shown that EGF receptor inhibition promotes a slow twitch (oxidative) over a fast-twitch muscle phenotype (Ciano et al 2019 ).…”

Role of Coenzyme Q10 in Health and Disease: An Update on the Last 10 Years (2010–2020)

“…In fact, despite the beneficial effects of moderate and regular physical exercise, strenuous exercise, defined as any activity that expends six metabolic equivalents (METS) per minute or more [ 93 ], may become detrimental. In particular, Simon H.B.’s review [ 94 ] underscores how repetitive intense exercise may have deleterious cardiovascular effects, causing structural damage to muscle cells, leading to muscle soreness, swelling, prolonged loss of muscle function, increased ROS production, induction of pro-inflammatory signaling, impairment of immune functions and leakage of muscle proteins into circulation [ 95 , 96 ]. In these overtraining conditions, subjected to individual training capacity and fitness level, CoQ supplementation as a mitochondrial nutrient, and in particular ubiquinol, due to its antioxidant activity, may modulate these harmful responses.…”

Intimate Relations—Mitochondria and Ageing

“…In addition to forming a key component of the body’s anti-oxidant system, CoQ may reduce the activation of NfκB by free radicals, thereby acting as a brake on chronic inflammation which is progressively relaxed as CoQ levels decline with age [ 127 ]. Some genetic defects in CoQ synthesis lead paradoxically to an increased life span [ 128 ] which is possibly due to mitohormesis, where production of a certain level of ROS initiates upregulation of antioxidant defenses to a degree that the overall benefit is greater than the damage sustained by the increased ROS [ 129 ].…”