Improving cellular energy production with nutrients such as Ubiquinol may be the key to unraveling autism

Improving cellular energy production with nutrients such as Ubiquinol may be the key to unraveling autism

Researchers from Purdue University, The Karolinska Institute, Comenius University and the University Pablo de Olavide write that the voltage dependent anion channel is not functioning properly in people with autism. This channel is involved with allowing nutrients into the power plants known as mitochondria or shutting them out; the mitochondria is where all of the body’s energy is made. There is some form of inhibition of NADH, the active form of vitamin B3 that is necessary for donating an atom (the H part which represents a high energy hydrogen molecule) for energy production. The active form of Coenzyme Q120 known as Ubiquinol is the shuttle that brings the H donated by NADH into the mitochondria. The team of researchers propose that autism is controlled by a Ubiquinol dependent redox system. Redox is a portmanteau of oxidation and reduction which can also be thought of as a free radical and its antioxidant antidote.  This is based on improvements in energy production and symptoms of autism with nutrients that affect electron transfer (such as Ubiquinol). The study is published in the May 2014 issue of the journal Biologics Targets and Therapies.