Antioxidant activity of ubiquinol in solution and phosphatidylcholine liposome.

The antioxidant activities of ubiquinol and ubiquinone were measured in the free radical-mediated oxidations of methyl linoleate in solution and phosphatidylcholine liposomes in aqueous dispersion. Ubiquinol-10 suppressed the oxidation of methyl linoleate in hexane, although its reactivity toward peroxyl radical was about 10 times less than that of alpha-tocopherol. Ubiquinone-10, on the contrary, did not show any antioxidant activity. On the other hand, ubiquinol-10 inhibited the oxidation of phosphatidylcholine liposomal membranes as efficiently as alpha-tocopherol. When both ubiquinol-10 and alpha-tocopherol were present, ubiquinol-10 decreased first and alpha-tocopherol decreased after all ubiquinol-10 was consumed in both solution and liposomes. These results and electron spin resonance (ESR) study suggest that ubiquinol-10 regenerates alpha-tocopherol by reducing alpha-tocopheroxyl radical.