PARAMETERS IN DETERMINING THE SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF THE SUCCINATE DEHYDRO-GENASE-COENZYME Q₁₀ REDUCTASE IN MITOCHONDRIA OF LEUCOCYTES

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A study of the parameters has been made of the assay of the specific activities of the succinate dehydrogenase-coenzyme Q₁₀ reductase in mitochondrial preparations from leucocytes to reveal saturation or a deficiency of coenzyme Q₁₀ at its site. These parameters include the key steps from the drawing of blood through the differential determinations for this enzyme system. The variations in the specific activities of the CoQ₁₀-enzyme, both in the absence and in the presence of coenzyme Q₃, was about 10% (mean value). The variations in the final and important criterion, i.e., the deficiency of CoQ₁₀-enzyme activity was about 7%. The variations were not significantly greater, when compared as groups, for duplicate blood samples drawn immediately and sequentially from the same patient.
The data from blood samples collected from the same patient over weeks and months of time showed variations in the specific activities of this CoQ₁₀-enzyme which are believed to be primarily due to changes in the metabolism and/or nutrition of the patient.
Initial data point to at least some correlation of the deficiencies of CoQ₁₀-enzyme activities in leucocytes and skeletal muscle of the same patient. In the future, primary assays for human deficiencies of coenzyme Q₁₀ might be based on leucocytes with subsequent assays of other tissues as specifically justified.