Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is widely used in preventive or curative treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, CoQ exhibits an extremely low solubility in aqueous medium as well as a poor oral bioavailability. Therefore, solanesyl poly(ethylene glycol) succinate (SPGS) and CoQ were formulated as CoQ-SPGS micelles with a high content of CoQ to improve the bioavailability of CoQ in rat. Findings indicate that, in the CoQ-SPGS micelles, SPGS is self-assembled into stable nanosized micelles with a CoQ loading capacity of more than 39%. The CoQ-SPGS micelles exhibit an enhanced photostability upon exposure to simulated sunlight. In vivo experiments demonstrate that, as compared to that of the coarse suspensions of CoQ, there was three-fold enhancement of oral bioavailability for CoQ-loaded SPGS micelles depending on varying molecular weight of SPGS. In the encapsulation of CoQ by SPGS micelles, the self-assembled nanocarriers with strong muco-adhesive properties lead to increases in the solubility and oral absorption of lipophilic CoQ nanoparticles.

No abstract