Ubiquinones and Related Substances

Although Moore (1959) and Morton and Phillips (1959) found no effect of vitamin E on ubiijuinone levels in the rat, in the author s laboratory vitamin E has been found to increase ubiquinone levels in various tissues of the rat, the rabbit, and in avian species (Edwin et al., 1961 Green et al., 1961 Diplock et al., 1962). Differences of conditions may well account for the conflicting reports, for it is now clear that ubiquinone levels fluctuate considerably and are affected by several dietary and other factors. Diplock et al. (1962) have commented on the close relationships between the tocoph- 

Finally, it may be useful to note that the effect of a-tocopherol in restoring the activity of isooctane-extracted DPN- and succinate-cytochrome c reductase systems (Nason and Lehman, 1956) can be duplicated by several members of the ubiquinone series (Weber et al., 1958). 

Cimino, G., and Bernardini, A. 1951. Boll. soc. ilal. biol. sper. 27, 505. 

Crider, Q., Alaupovic, P., and Johnson, C. 1960. Biochem. Biophys. Research Commune. 2, 293. 

and Wiss, 0. 1958. Helv. Chim. Acta 41, 1038, 1046. 

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