For longevist purposes, possibly the two most interesting roles of Coenzyme A are in the detoxification of toxic substances and the synthesis of cholesterol and steroid hormones made from cholesterol. Coenzyme A is involved in a very important type of reaction which occurs in the liver, called acetylation, by which our bodies dispose of many different kinds of toxic substances. The highest content of Coenzyme A is in the liver, the next highest concentration is in the adrenal glands. The adrenals make corticosterone, a steroid hormone very important in helping our bodies respond to stress of many kinds. Since Coenzyme A appears in almost all living tissue, deficiencies of pantothenic acid are very hard to produce.
Similar symptoms appear in dogs and monkeys deprived of pantothenic acid.
The evidence that pantothenic acid will have a direct positive effect on longevity comes from a single experiment done in 1958. Roger J Williams, who had done extensive work on other properties of this vitamin, and Richard B, Pelton, then at the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute, fed large amounts of pantothenic acid to a group of 34 male and 40 female C-57 black mice to see if it might increase their lifespans. In their report, Pelton and Williams suggest that pantothenic acid merits much more investigation as a drug for aging. Unfortunately, no one seems to have followed up their suggestion. The major defect of their experiment lies in the small number of animals used and the fact that they worked with only one species, mice.