Effects of dietary CoQ10 and α-lipoic acid on CoQ10 levels in plasma and tissues of eggs laying hens

In this paper we described the effect of administrated CoQ10, and alfa-lipoic acid on the concentration of total CoQ10 in plasma end body tissues of eggs laying hens. Organisms raise a complex network of enzymes, metabolites and molecules with antioxidant activities in order to prevent oxidative damage of theirs bodies. Adequate blood concentrations of small weight molecules ingested with food and food additives are important for the proper functioning of the antioxidant defense. To test this hypothesis we prepared following experiment. Forty weeks old hens were selected from two genotypes; Ross 308 broiler mothers and Lohmann breed hens. Animals were fed for a period of 84 days. Concentrations of supplemented CoQ10 and ALA were calculated from feed instruction tables so each hen received an average of approximately 5 mg of CoQ10 and 50 mg of ALA per kg of animal weight per day. During the experiment blood samples were taken and at the end of the experiment different body tissues (heart, liver, breast, legs) were collected and analyzed with originally developed HPLC-MS/MS method based selective ionization with LiCl on MRM scanning. We found a number of interesting and unexpected results. Supplemented CoQ10 increased concentrations of coenzyme CoQ10 in plasma and different hen’s tissues. Increased concentration of CoQ10 is the result of its transfer with chylomicrons from the digestive tract to various organs of the body and to the liver where exogenous and endogenous CoQ10 has been re-redistributed through lipoproteins. Supplemented ALA caused much greater concentration of CoQ10 in different tissues and plasma then CoQ10. Plausible explanation of our results is such that ALA may regenerates the antioxidants and accelerate the formation of endogenous CoQ10 which is distributed with lipoprotein carriers and increases overall concentration of CoQ10. Our experiments definitely show that Lipoic acid beside glutathione promotes also a synthesis of CoQ10 and increases the total concentration especially in liver and heart tissues.