건강기능식품의 경우 단성분보다는 복합제품 개발이 우선시되고, 12가지 기본제형이외에도 일반식품형태의 제품으로 범위가 확대되고 있다. 이러한 제품에서 기능성(지표)성분을 효율적으로 분석할 수 있는 방법에 대한 연구가 필요한 실정이다. 복합제품 등에서 정성·정량 가능한 코엔자임Q10을 효과적으로 분석할 수 방법을 확립하기 위하여 본 연구를 수행하였다. 액체크로마토그라프-질량분석기(LC-MS/MS)를 이용하여 건강기능식품 중 코엔자임Q10의 정성·정량시험법을 확립하였다. 확립된 시험법에 대해 특이성, 검출한계, 정량한계, 정확도, 정밀도에 대한 검증을 통하여 유효성을 확인하였다. 또한 시중 유통검체 14 건을 확보하여 시험의 적용가능성도 검토하였다. 직선성에서는 R2>0.999 이상임을 확인하였고, 검출한계 및 정량 한계는 각각 26.0 및 78.9 μg/L이었다. 또한 평균 회수율은 98.6-107.0%로 나타났으며, 반복정밀도는 상대표준편 차 4.0%이하, 실험실간 재현성은 2.4%로 나타나 정확성, 재현성이 우수하였으며 이는 AOAC 가이드라인에서 제시한 기준에 모두 적합한 수준이었다. 시중 유통 제품에 대하여 실험한 결과 84.0-118.7%로 모두 적합하였다. 따라서 본 연구에서 개발된 분석법은 건강기능식품 중 코엔자임Q10의 정성·정량분석에 이용될 수 있으며, 우수한 품질의 건강기능식품유통에 기여할 것으로 판단된다.

Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality that accounts for over 9% of all incidences of cancer. Additionally, colorectal cancer is widely recognized as an environmental disease related to ill-defined cultural, social and lifestyle factors including physical activity, obesity, cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol consumption. Accordingly, natural phytochemicals and extracts have attracted attention because of their beneficial biological effects. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a common supplementary medicine applied to increase bioenergetic capacity in various diseases. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether CoQ10 treatment has any inhibitory effects and its related cellular mechanisms in human colon cancer HCT116 cells. A MTT assay revealed that CoQ10 slightly decreased the proliferation of HCT116 cells; however, glutathione- and superoxide dismutase- activity were unchanged in response to CoQ10 treatment. A DCF-DA assay revealed that CoQ10 slightly increased ROS release of HCT116 cells. However, in a nitric oxide (NO) assay, CoQ10 significantly increased NO production in a dose-dependent manner. The results of western blot analysis revealed that the protein levels of Bax, p21 and p53 were increased, whereas the protein level of Bcl2 was decreased suggesting that the CoQ10-mediated inhibitory mechanism is associated with apoptotic signaling. Taken together, our findings indicate that CoQ10 has an inhibitory effect on the growth of colon cancer cells via NO production that is associated with regulation of factors involved in apoptotic signaling including Bax, Bcl2, p21 and p53.

A method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet detection has been developed to quantify coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in raw materials and dietary supplements. Single-laboratory validation has been performed on the method to determine linearity, selectivity, accuracy, limits of quantification (LOQ) and repeatability for CoQ10. An excellent linearity (r = 0.999) was observed for CoQ10 in the concentration range 15.625~500 μg/mL in dietary supplement. Observed recovery of CoQ10 was found to be between 98.33 and 99.38%. LOQ was found to be 250 μg/mL Repeatability precision for CoQ10 was between 0.15 and 0.21% relative standard deviation (RSD). Further, limited studies showed that some adulterants and degraded material could be satisfactorily separated from CoQ10 and identified.