A “new” enzyme co-factor related to family of Ubichinolo

 

The PQQ is easily found in natural substances : it was also found in stellar dust , confirming the hypothesis of a role in the evolution of life on earth !
All known plants contain PQQ , but neither the human nor the bacteria are able to synthesize it , and this has convinced the experts to classify the PQQ as an essential micro- nutrient .

More about the discovery of PQQ
Japanese scientists have discovered a new vitamin that plays an important role in the fertility of mice and that could have a function quite similar in humans .
The research team , led by Takafumi Kato Institute of Physical and Chemical Research ( RIKEN ) in Tokyo, confirmed that the ( PQQ ), a substance discovered in 1979 , can be labeled as a vitamin.
Mice deprived of PQQ have reduced fertility and have a bit more rough ; vitamins that have an effect on mice , said Kato , usually act in the same way in humans.
“There are many factors that could have something to do with this decline in fertility , – explained the researcher – and we will need many more studies to find out exactly what happens to these mice and what would be the effects on humans .”
PQQ is the first new vitamin discovered since 1948 ; vitamins , organic substances needed in small quantities for health and growth, and must pyrroloquinoline quinone obtained from food can not be produced by the body.There are 13 other types of vitamin known : the PQQ should be part of the group of B vitamins
The best source of PQQ that is known so far is the ” natto ” , a Japanese dish made ​​from fermented soybeans .
Other foods rich in this substance include parsley, green pepper , green tea , kiwi and papaya .
Currently it is not included in the multi- vitamin tablets available on the market.
PQQ has the potential to stimulate the biogenesis of mitochondria and research in this direction further confirm a role of strategic importance in the production of cellular energy , so much so that he was given a role of powerful growth factor for plants, bacteria but also to higher organisms .
Recent clinical studies show that farmed animals by depriving them of the cofactor show difficulties in the normal growth , a simultaneous impairment of the immune system , reproductive dysfunction , and , of course, a decreased number of cellular mitochondria .
In addition, shortage or absence of PQQ decreases the amount of newborns , their survival statistics, and their general state of health .
The re-introduction of adequate levels of PQQ to rise to positive changes and the reversibility of the above .

The main observable clinical effect of PQQ is the defense of mitochondria.
Mitochondria represent the human cell , but not limited to, the primary source of energy obtained from the oxidation of organic substrates ( organic substrates oxidation ———- ——– ATP) , but as a result of the physiological processes in place need of significant amounts of anti-oxidant substances able to counterbalance the endogenous production of free radicals ( as a consequence of oxidant ) .Mitochondria at their maximum capacity oxidant structures are quite stable : for their optimum operation require a number of factors such as the specific nutritional CoQ10 and its cofactor similar today better known as PQQ.
Unlike other anti -oxidants the PQQ shows an extraordinary stability, which allows him to carry thousands of electrons ( along the respiratory chain ) and transfer them to ideal substrates without encountering phenomena of structural alteration and , therefore, loss of effectiveness in the over time.
Thus, in addition to mechanisms to transfer electrons with low energy consumption , is capable of performing simultaneously anti -oxidants.
According to recent research the anti oxidant properties of PQQ are valid from 30 to 5000 times that of ascorbic acid ( vitamin C ) !
Numerous biochemical studies demonstrate these observations, and today is considered the PQQ co factor (vitamin ? ) More important than even large family of anti -oxidants.
The PQQ , thanks to this dual activity ( optimizing the production of cellular energy and acts as anti -oxidant properties of rare power ) is seen as the ideal substance to combat degenerative diseases of the elderly especially those characterized by loss of cardiac performance and brain .

Neuroprotective actions.
The PQQ has been shown to optimize the physiological functions of the organism including the Central Nervous System : in fact, its supplementation constant in time well correlates with a sharp decrease of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and a significant reduction in oxidation processes with improvements neuronal sensitive memory and intellectual abilities , proving useful in cases of prevention of Parkinson’s.
It is known that reactive nitrogen species (RNS ) and also oxygen species (ROS ) are a real threat to all neurons, contributing to the worsening of memory and intellectual capacity ( induced by the advance of biological age ) .
The PQQ directly suppresses the RNS and ROS , making it very useful in reducing the damage caused by myocardial infarction or neuronal induced in experimental animals , in addition the PQQ suppresses the gene that produces iNOS (most source RNS) .
The PQQ directly protects the cells of the central nervous system ( CNS) from the consequences of oxidative damage caused by inflammation , ischemia and reperfusion ( ischemic – infarct secondary to factors contributing to a resumption of activities in a much shorter time than any other food – nourishment essential) .
In fact, when given immediately before inducing a stroke or a heart attack in experimental animals , there is a net reduction in infarct size induced , with significant pyrroloquinoline quinone benefits for the maintenance of cellular activities affected by neuronal or cardiac ischemic phenomena , in addition, the PQQ protects neurons from changes induced by NMDA receptors , which are responsible excito- toxicity.

The excito – toxicity is a phenomenon of neuronal toxicity consequent to exposure to relatively high concentrations of glutamic acid ( 50-100 uM ) .
The phenomenon is particularly important because glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system level : the local application of glutamate at the level of the sections of neuronal cells induces degeneration of cell bodies near the site of injection, while sparing the axonal fibers .
E ‘ , then , glutamate , via interaction with the NMDA glutamate itself ( subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors sensitive to N-methyl- D-aspartate ) , to determine toxicity due to the input of high concentration of calcium in the postsynaptic neuron .
The increase of intracellular calcium determines , in fact , alterations in the permeability of the mitochondrial membrane and activation of caspase cytosolic ( that induce cell apoptosis ) .
The mechanism of excito – toxicity seems implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases , such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s chorea , and in neural damage resulting in severe hypoxia , as in the case of stroke and cardiac arrest, with severe hypo- perfusion cerebral ( hypoxia appears to determine, in fact , increase the activation of NMDA receptors to glutamate ) .
Extensive research in this field confirm that the PQQ is in the future and will represent the best strategy for the complex treatment and prevention of Alzheimer ‘s and Parkinson’s diseases characterized precisely by the accumulation of proteins that represent the cascade of events that can trigger a cellular level oxidative phenomena of considerable intensity such as to trigger a real early death of the cell.
The PQQ has been shown to prevent the development of a protein (alpha – synuclein ) directly associated to Parkinson ; at the same time the PQQ neuronal cell protects the body from oxidative phenomena that lead to the formation of beta – amyloid protein strongly associated to triggers l ‘ Alzheimer’s.
In humans, supplementation of 20 mg / day of PQQ especially in addition to 300 mg of CoQ10 ( Ubiquinol ) showed clinical improvement is evident both in terms of memory capacity that maintenance of intellectual abilities , even in old age and in patients affected by ischemic phenomena .

What clinical situations are best suited to the PQQ ?
Cases of age-related mitochondrial dysfunction patient’s biological or following disease – ischemic infarct (researchers in various parts of the world have highlighted the most serious incidents of mitochondrial dysfunction in patients 70 years compared with 40 years);
Many scholars are now convinced that the longevity of the mitochondria and their effectiveness – efficiency is directly related to the proper functioning of the mitochondria itself , as well as special attention to the conservation status of the mitochondrial ability strongly correlates with an increase in life expectancy ;
The supplementation of PQQ has been shown how this new family of cofactors is able not only to improve the working capacity of the mitochondria but also to act as a factor responsible for increase in the biogenesis of new mitochondria in replacement of those faulty or inactive; difference of CoQ10, Ubiquinol while optimizing the function of mitochondria , the PQQ acts directly on the genes that govern the reproduction of new mitochondria , protecting those well-functioning and repair damaged structures ( from oxidation by free radicals).

Coauthor GIOACCHINO DI LEO

Photo FRANCESCA R. VERSARI