Animal Models of Coenzyme Q Deficiency: Mechanistic and Translational Learnings González García, Pilar Barriocanal Casado, Eliana Díaz Casado, María Elena López Herrador, Sergio Hidalgo Gutiérrez, Agustín López García, Luis Carlos Mitochondria Mitochondrial disease Oxidative stress Pathomechanisms Preclinical models Sulfide metabolism Therapy Funding: This work was supported by grants from the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain, and the ERDF (RTI2018-093503-B-100); the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA-602322); and from the Junta de Andalucía (grant number P20_00134). P.G.-G. is ‘FPU fellow’ from the Ministerio de Universidades, Spain. A.H.-G. is supported by the “Plan Propio de Investigación” from the University of Granada. S.L.-H. is supported by the “garantía juvenil” program. E.B.-C. is supported by the Consejería de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, Spain. Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is a vital lipophilic molecule that is endogenously synthesized in the mitochondria of each cell. The CoQ biosynthetic pathway is complex and not completely characterized, and it involves at least thirteen catalytic and regulatory proteins. Once it is synthesized, CoQ exerts a wide variety of mitochondrial and extramitochondrial functions thank to its redox capacity and its lipophilicity. Thus, low levels of CoQ cause diseases with heterogeneous clinical symptoms, which are not always understood. The decreased levels of CoQ may be primary caused by defects in the CoQ biosynthetic pathway or secondarily associated with other diseases. In both cases, the pathomechanisms are related to the CoQ functions, although further experimental evidence is required to establish this association. The conventional treatment for CoQ deficiencies is the high doses of oral CoQ10 supplementation, but this therapy is not effective for some specific clinical presentations, especially in those involving the nervous system. To better understand the CoQ biosynthetic pathway, the biological functions linked to CoQ and the pathomechanisms of CoQ deficiencies, and to improve the therapeutic outcomes of this syndrome, a variety of animal models have been generated and characterized in the last decade. In this review, we show all the animal models available, remarking on the most important outcomes that each model has provided. Finally, we also comment some gaps and future research directions related to CoQ metabolism and how the current and novel animal models may help in the development of future research studies. 2021-11-24T11:57:20Z 2021-11-24T11:57:20Z 2021-10-26 info:eu-repo/semantics/article González-García, P.; Barriocanal-Casado, E.; Díaz-Casado, M.E.; López-Herrador, S.; Hidalgo-Gutiérrez, A.; López, L.C. Animal Models of Coenzyme Q Deficiency: Mechanistic and Translational Learnings. Antioxidants 2021, 10, 1687. [https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10111687] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/71722 10.3390/antiox10111687 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI