History of Mitochondrial Medicine and Coenzyme Q10

The important function of mitochondria in many diseases from rare diseases to non-transmissible chronic diseases and even virus and bacterial infections was not clear no so long time ago. In the middle of the twentieth century, the importance of mitochondria in the physiology and the onset and progression of diseases was unknown. From the late 50s and early 60s of the last century, the discovery of the way the mitochondria produce energy and the key function of a lipid, known as coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), as a component of the mitochondria respiratory chain, was the beginning of understanding a complex system that is affecting many aspects of the life of the organism from development to aging. The chapters of this book offer the opportunity to deep into the importance of this organelle and particularly CoQ10 in health and disease.