Quinolinic acid (QUIN) is a toxic compound with pro-oxidant, pro-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic actions found at high levels in the central nervous system (CNS) in several pathological conditions. Due to the toxicity of QUIN, it is important to evaluate strategies to protect against the damage caused by this metabolite in the brain. In this context, coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀) is a provitamin present in the mitochondria with a protective role in cells through several mechanisms of action. Based on these, the present study was aimed at evaluating the possible neuroprotective role of CoQ₁₀ against damage caused by QUIN in the striatum of young Wistar rats. Twenty-one-day-old rats underwent a 10-day pretreatment with CoQ₁₀ or saline (control) intraperitoneal injections and on the 30th day of life received QUIN intrastriatal or saline (control) administration. The animals were submitted to behavior tests or euthanized, and the striatum was dissected to neurochemical studies. Results showed that CoQ₁₀ was able to prevent behavioral changes (the open field, object recognition, and pole test tasks) and neurochemical parameters (alteration in the gene expression of IL-1β, IL-6, SOD, and GPx, as well as in the immunocontent of cytoplasmic Nrf2 and nuclear p-Nf-κβ) caused by QUIN. These findings demonstrate the promising therapeutic effects of CoQ₁₀ against QUIN toxicity.

喹啉酸 (QUIN) 是一种有毒化合物，具有促氧化、促炎和促凋亡作用，在多种病理状况下的中枢神经系统 (CNS) 中含量很高。由于 QUIN 的毒性，评估防止这种代谢物对大脑造成损害的策略非常重要。在这种情况下，辅酶 Q ₁₀ (CoQ ₁₀ ) 是存在于线粒体中的维生素原，通过多种作用机制在细胞中发挥保护作用。基于这些，本研究旨在评估 CoQ ₁₀对年轻 Wistar 大鼠纹状体中 QUIN 造成的损伤的可能神经保护作用。21 天大的大鼠接受为期 10 天的 CoQ ₁₀或盐水（对照）腹腔注射预处理，并在出生后第 30 天接受 QUIN 纹状体注射或盐水（对照）给药。这些动物被接受行为测试或安乐死，并解剖纹状体进行神经化学研究。结果表明，CoQ ₁₀能够防止行为变化（旷场、物体识别和杆测试任务）和神经化学参数（IL-1β、IL-6、SOD 和 GPx 基因表达的改变，以及QUIN 引起的细胞质 Nrf2 和核 p-Nf-κβ 的免疫内容。_{这些发现证明 CoQ 10}对 QUIN 毒性具有良好的治疗效果。