Lipoamide dehydrogenase belongs to a family of pyridine nucleotide disulfide oxidoreductases and is ubiquitous in aerobic organisms. This enzyme also reduces ubiquinone (the only endogenously synthesized lipid-soluble antioxidant) to ubiquinol, the form in which it functions as an antioxidant. The reduction of ubiquinone was linear with time and exhibited turnover numbers of 5 and 1.2 min-1 in the presence and absence of zinc, respectively. The reaction was stimulated by zinc and cadmium but not by the other divalent ions tested. The zinc/cadmium-dependent stimulation of the reaction increased rapidly and linearly up to a concentration of 0.1 mM and was even further increased at 0.5 mM. At pH 6, the activity was three times higher than at physiological pH. Alteration of the NADPH : NADP+ ratio revealed that the reaction is inhibited by higher concentrations of the oxidized cofactors. FAD reduced ubiquinone in a dose-dependent manner at a considerably lower rate, suggesting that the reduction of ubiquinone by lipoamide dehydrogenase involves the FAD moiety of the enzyme.