Coenzyme Q (CoQ),also known as ubiquinone,is a lipid-soluble quinone compound which exists in biological organis ms widely.The numbers of side chain isoprene of different sources of coenzyme Q are different.Coenzyme Q in humans and mammals are called coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10 ,Q10 ), in that the ubiquinone side chain of humans and mammals are mainly composed of 10 isoprene units.In the mitochondrial respiratory chain,it acts as a mobile electron transporter and is a cofactor of uncoup-ling proteins,which is an essential endogenous substance in the process of cell respiration and metabo-lis m.Moreover,CoQ possesses independent antiapoptosis feature,which regulates the mitochondrial permeability transition pore.Mitochondrion is an important organelle,which is the place for energy stor-age and supply,providing the energy for vital movement.There are various kinds of chemical toxicants in the hu man environ ment,and they can enter into the hu man body through drinking,feeding or breath-ing and then affect cell mitochondria to different degrees.Thus,it is important for preventive medicine to investigate intervention or reduction of the biological da mage of exogenous chemicals′effects on mito-chondria.In this paper,we reviewed the research progress of the role of coenzyme Q in xenobiotics in-duced mitochondrial da mage.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of formaldehyde inducing ovarian toxicity in female rats by observing the effect of formaldehyde on the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA, and the activity of caspase-3 and caspase-8 of ovary tissues in female rats. METHODS: Forty female Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into a control group and 3 formaldehyde groups at different concentrations. The rats in the formaldehyde groups were intraperitoneally injected different doses of formaldehyde (20.0,2.0 and 0.2 mg/kg) continuously for 14 days.After 14 days, all rats were sacrificed and their ovaries were collected for detecting the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA with RT-PCR, the protein expression of Fas with Western blot, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-3 with spectrophotometric method. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the expression of Fas mRNA and its protein and caspase-8 mRNA and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 of ovary tissues in the rats treated with formaldehyde significantly increased with dose (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The increase of Fas gene expression and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 may be the important mechanism of ovarian toxicity induced by formaldehyde in female rats.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Caspase 3 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Environmental Pollutants ; toxicity ; Female ; Formaldehyde ; toxicity ; Ovary ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; fas Receptor ; genetics ; metabolism