Fig 1.
Clinical trial flow diagram.
Table 1.
Composition of the candies.
Fig 2.
Correlation between age and the saliva flow rate.
(a) Overall analysis. Age and the saliva flow rate showed a weak negative correlation that was not significant. (b) Analysis of female subjects. Age and the saliva flow rate showed a significant negative correlation in women.
Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of the subjects.
Fig 3.
Saliva flow rate and salivary CoQ10 level before and after the study.
The saliva flow rate (a) and salivary CoQ10 level (b) in the placebo group (n = 20) and the ubiquinol group (n = 18) before (0w) and after (8w) the treatment period. Values are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. Significant differences:* p <0.05, ** p <0.01.
Table 3.
Comparison of parameters between before and after the treatment period.
Fig 4.
ATP production by human salivary gland (HSG) cells was increased by incubation with ubiquinol in a concentration-dependent manner. Values are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (n = 4). Significant differences: * p <0.05.
Fig 5.
Detection of MDA (lipid peroxidation) in HSG cells.
In human salivary gland (HSG) cells, lipid peroxidation induced by 100 μM FeSO4 was inhibited by 100 μM sodium ascorbate (SA) and 1 nM ubiquinol. Values are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Significant differences: * p <0.05, ** p <0.01.
Fig 6.
Oxidation of proteins in human salivary gland (HSG) cells induced by 20 mM H2O2 was inhibited by 100 nM ubiquinol. (a) Western blots of carbonylated proteins stained with anti-DNP antibody and β-actin in the same samples. (b) The staining intensity of carbonylated protein bands was quantified by using Image J software.