Evaluation of pharmacokinetic parameters of ubiquinol acetate, ubiquinone and ubiquinol in male Sprague-Dawley rats – A comparative study

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate single-dose oral comparative pharmacokinetics studies of ubiquinol acetate (EnQ10), ubiquinone and ubiquinol in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Materials and Methods: Oral suspension formulations of ubiquinol acetate (EnQ10), ubiquinone, and ubiquinol at 300 mg/kg body weight (equivalent dose of ubiquinone) were prepared in 0.1% (v/v) Tween 80 and 15% (w/v) hydroxypropyl-α-cyclodextrin. Six animals per group for each compound were dosed with oral suspension formulations of EnQ10, ubiquinone, and ubiquinol. Blood samples were collected at time points of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 24, 30, and 48 h and plasma samples were analysed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry for the analyte’s ubiquinone and ubiquinol. Results: In EnQ10 dosed animals, the plasma mean concentration maximum, Cmax (347.83 ng/mL) of ubiquinol was found to be 2.52 times higher versus ubiquinone dosed animals (137.90 ng/mL). Furthermore, in EnQ10 dosed animals, the observed plasma exposure (AUClast) (4808.94 h*ng/mL) for ubiquinol was found to be 3.96 times higher versus. Ubiquinone dosed animals (1214.42 h*ng/mL). One-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) was performed for the Cmax and AUClast of ubiquinol. There was a significant increase ( P < 0.05) in the Cmax and AUClast of ubiquinol in animals dosed with EnQ10 compared to the animals dosed with ubiquinone. Conclusion: The findings from this study indicated that ubiquinol acetate (EnQ10) showed better oral bioavailability compared to ubiquinone (CoQ10) when administered orally (300 mg/kg body weight equivalent dose of ubiquinone) in the male in male SD Rats.