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Decreased serum ubiquinone-10 concentrations in phenylketonuria^1,2

¹ From the Servei de Bioquímica, Servei de Pediatría i Neuropediatría, Unitat Integrada, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu/Hospital Clinic, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Ubiquinone-10 is a lipid with important metabolic functions that may be decreased in phenylketonuria (PKU) because patients with PKU consume diets restricted in natural proteins.

Objective: We studied serum ubiquinone-10 concentrations in PKU patients.

Design: This was a retrospective, transversal study in which we compared serum ubiquinone-10, plasma cholesterol, plasma tyrosine, and plasma phenylalanine concentrations in 43 PKU patients with concentrations in a reference population (n = 102). Serum ubiquinone-10 concentrations were analyzed by HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Plasma tyrosine and phenylalanine were measured by ion-exchange chromatography.

Results: Serum ubiquinone-10 concentrations in PKU patients were significantly lower than in the reference population (P < 0.01 for patients aged 1 mo to <8 y and P < 0.00005 for patients aged 8–33 y). Moreover, 5 of 18 PKU patients (28%) in the younger age group and 10 of 23 (43%) in the older age group had serum ubiquinone-10 concentrations below the reference interval.

Conclusions: Serum ubiquinone-10 deficiency appears to be related to the restricted diet of PKU patients. Because serum ubiquinone-10 plays a major antioxidant role in the protection of circulating lipoproteins, the correction of ubiquinone-10 concentrations should be considered in PKU patients. Further investigation seems advisable to elucidate whether the deficiency in serum ubiquinone-10 status is clinically significant.

Key Words: Phenylketonuria • ubiquinone-10 • tyrosine • phenylalanine • cholesterol • dietetic treatment • humans

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Colome, R. Artuch, M.-A. Vilaseca, C. Sierra, N. Brandi, N. Lambruschini, F. J Cambra, and J. Campistol Lipophilic antioxidants in patients with phenylketonuria Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, January 1, 2003; 77(1): 185 - 188. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]