Coenzyme Q₁₀ - Discovery and History

Discovery and History

Coenzyme Q₁₀ was first discovered by Professor Fredrick L. Crane and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Enzyme Institute in 1957. In 1958, its chemical structure was reported by Dr. Karl Folkers and coworkers at Merck; in 1968, Folkers became a Professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1961 Peter Mitchell proposed the electron transport chain (which includes the vital protonmotive role of CoQ₁₀) and he received a Nobel prize for the same in 1978. In 1972, Gian Paolo Littarru and Karl Folkers separately demonstrated a deficiency of CoQ₁₀ in human heart disease. The 1980s witnessed a steep rise in the number of clinical trials due to the availability of large quantities of pure CoQ₁₀ and methods to measure plasma and blood CoQ₁₀ concentrations. The redox functions of CoQ in cellular energy production and antioxidant protection are based on the ability to exchange two electrons in a redox cycle between ubiquinol (reduced CoQ) and oxidized CoQ (ubiquinone). The antioxidant role of the molecule as a free radical scavenger was widely studied by Lars Ernster. Numerous scientists around the globe started studies on this molecule since then in relation to various diseases including cardiovascular diseases and cancer.