Is ubiquinol used to make ATP

[treehouse]

Or does it just absorb electrons from free radicals? Is it ubiquinol or ubiqinone that is used to make ATP?

[mishrashubham]

Or does it just absorb electrons from free radicals? Is it ubiquinol or ubiqinone that is used to make ATP?

Ubiquinol is the just the reduced or electron rich form of ubiquinone. It is the same molecule which alternately gets oxidized and reduced by giving and taking electrons, and thus acts as an electron carrier. Therefore it is an essential component of the Electron Transport Chain. Here is a nice and simple explanation of the ETC that might give you a better understanding.
http://www.brookscole.com/chemistry_d/templates/student_resources/shared_resources/animations/oxidative/oxidativephosphorylation.html

[treehouse]

Thanks...
So, ubiquinol doesn't absorb electrons because its already saturated with them. Does a therapeutic dose of exogenous ubiquinol* by-pass the reduction steps of ubiquinone?

I mean, in terms of ATP production ubiquinol is refined ubiquinone, not spent ubiquinone. Right?

*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19096107

[mishrashubham]

I mean, in terms of ATP production ubiquinol is refined ubiquinone, not spent ubiquinone. Right?


Neither; CoQ10 undergoes cycles of oxidation and reduction in order to transport electrons. Simply put, CoQ10 as ubiquinone takes electrons from complex I and II in the ETC and becomes ubiquinol. It then donates electrons to complex III and converts back to ubiquinone and returns for another round of oxidation and reduction.

So ubiquinol is not a better version of CoQ10. Both forms are equally important with respect to the ATP production.


So, ubiquinol doesn't absorb electrons because its already saturated with them.

Right, its job in the ETC is to release electrons.


Does a therapeutic dose of exogenous ubiquinol* by-pass the reduction steps of ubiquinone?

I do know that ubiquinol is an effective anti-oxidant protects from free-radical damage. But I really have no idea whether exogenous Ubiquinol is incorporated into the ETC. After a bit of googling, I found out that the reason why ubiquinol has been more effective might be because, it is more readily absorbed into our body system.

Other members might be of more help.

[treehouse]

Is ATP made at each of these steps along the ETC?

[mishrashubham]

Is ATP made at each of these steps along the ETC?

No. Did you check the animation? ATP production is done only in the last step by ATP synthase, which uses the H+ gradient across the membrane to generate. ATP.

[treehouse]

And the last step uses ubiquinol, right? And the therapeutic effects of ubiquinol are too pronounced to be due to anti-oxidants (not even alpha-lipoic acid supplementation provides a comparable boost in performance); at least that's what I'm saying right now.

I took another look at the animation... I remember my Gen Bio 1 study group calling the last part of it "the bong". Watching peops light up on tinychat.com isn't an issue for me - actually smelling it messes with my head though, especially because a hotbox high can facilitate LSD flashbacks. I'm so glad I'm sober.

[mishrashubham]

And the last step uses ubiquinol, right?
You could say so, yeah.



And the therapeutic effects of ubiquinol are too pronounced to be due to anti-oxidants (not even alpha-lipoic acid supplementation provides a comparable boost in performance); at least that's what I'm saying right now.

I have already said that I don't know the answer to this. Someone in the medical field could help.


I took another look at the animation... I remember my Gen Bio 1 study group calling the last part of it "the bong". Watching peops light up on tinychat.com isn't an issue for me - actually smelling it messes with my head though, especially because a hotbox high can facilitate LSD flashbacks. I'm so glad I'm sober.

Don't know what this is supposed to mean.

[treehouse]

Don't know what this is supposed to mean.

Its just information. Maybe the story will be a mnemonically useful association with the end of the ETC. Maybe you'll need to tell friend who would otherwise take LSD that it could ruin pot for them. Maybe you'll find company on a night when you're lonely and friends and gatherings are unavailable or set up an intellectual chat room on tinychat.com