Effect of vitamin E deficiency on oxidative metabolism and antioxidant enzyme activity of macrophages.

In AUG rats, deprived of vitamin E for 90 days, we noted a 3-fold increase of kinetic parameters of luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of macrophages, stimulated with opsonized zymosan, superoxide dismutase activity decrease and increment of plasma membrane lipid bilayer microviscosity, which was estimated by fluorescent probe pyrene eximerization method. Vitamin E deficiency did not affect glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities of macrophages.

[Molecular aspects of the mechanism of anti-oxidant activity of vitamin E: features of the action of alpha- and gamma-tocopherol].

Current data on mechanisms of vitamin E action are reviewed with the specific reference to the antioxidant theory. Experimental data relevant to this theory on alpha- and gamma-tocopherols reactions in biological and nonbiological systems are considered. Distinctly lower biological activity of gamma-tocopherol, as compared with that of alpha-tocopherol, was shown not to depend only on dissimilar antiradical properties of these two homologues.

[Vitamin E and propolis as antioxidants after excessive administration of polyunsaturated fatty acids].

Polyunsaturated fatty acids included into animals' ration (10% of linethol) intensified lipid peroxidation and increased the activity of cathepsin D, an enzyme responsible for protein and lipid degradation in the cell. Vitamin E stabilized the impaired processes. Biologically active complex of propolis produced a similar effect, however, decreased protein synthesis and a tendency to animals' body mass increment have evidenced a more pronounced antioxidative action as compared to that of vitamin E.

[Effect of alpha- and gamma-tocopherols on the cytochrome P-450 system in the liver of rats with E-avitaminosis. Effectiveness of liposomal forms of gamma-tocopherol].

The effects of low doses of intraperitoneally injected alpha- and gamma-tocopherols dispersed in isotonic solutions of NaCl and of liposomal gamma-tocopherol on endogenous lipid peroxidation and the cytochrome P-450 system of vitamin E-deficient rats were compared. It was found that all tocopherol preparations under study caused a twofold decrease of the lipid Schiff base concentration in the liver in comparison with tocopherol-deficient rats. However, the increase in cytochrome P-450 and b5 levels and the high functional activity of the microsomal oxidation system in the benz(a)pyrene hydroxylation reaction was induced only after liposomal gamma-tocopherol injection.

[Effect of a phosphatidylcholine-enriched diet on the structural and functional parameters of rat liver microsomes].

The authors studied the influence of the diet enriched with phosphatidylcholine on the structural-functional parameters of microsomes: lipid peroxidation activity, the levels of cytochromes b5 and P-450, microviscosity of the lipid phase of the membrane. In experiments in vivo it was found that phosphatidylcholine per se, not combined with antioxidants, did not show antioxidant properties. Biological effects of lecithin could be explained by its role as a catalyst of the monooxygenase system in the liver, based on the correlation (r = +0.

[Results and prospects for the study of endemic goiter in Kazakhstan].

The results of many-year-old research into endemic goiter epidemiology in Kazakhstan were summed up. Methods for the assessment of potential goiter risk were worked out. Multipurpose expedition investigations including mass screenings of the population and animals in all climatic and geographic zones of the republic, an analysis of the concentration of iodine and some other trace elements in the environment and the level of their consumption by man, resulted in compiling a variety of medicogeographic maps on endemic goiter epidemiology.

[Effect of vitamin E from by-products of cotton oil processing on the glutathione peroxidase system in rats].

The activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase from liver, skeletal muscles and erythrocytes of rats fed a vitamin E-deficient, or supplemented, diet were studied. Vitamin E was added in the diet either as a pure pharmacy form of alpha-tocopherol or as a tocopherol mixture derived from oil wastes. The deficiency of vitamin E caused an increase in the activity of the above mentioned enzymes.

[Changes in the phospholipid-phospholipid ratios and the enzyme activity of antioxidant protection in the rat lung during dehydration].

It was established that water deprivation during 3, 6, 9 days caused a distinct decrease in phospholipid level and disturbances of phospholipid composition in the rat lung tissue. It was accompanied by alterations in the activity of antioxidant defense system enzymes (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase). These data are indicative of lipid peroxidation intensification in the rat lungs during water deprivation.

[Possibility of correcting the immune system by using food products].

In experiments on August rats the effect was studied of a product, prepared by freezing and thawing of cabbage followed by inoculation of yeast and lactic acid microorganisms, on the primary immune response to sheep red blood cells and oxidation metabolism in peritoneal macrophages. The product significantly increased the antibody-formation and accumulation of antibody-forming cells in the spleen but did not affect the lumino-dependent chemiluminescence of macrophages stimulated with opsonized zymosan.

[Effect of vitamin E on the oxidative metabolism of macrophages].

The oxidative metabolism of macrophages in vitamin E deficiency was studied on Aug-Lac strain rats. Vitamin E deficiency was shown to enhance luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of macrophages stimulated by opsonized zymosan. There was also an increase in microviscosity of macrophage membrane lipid phase, that was estimated with a fluorescent probe.

[Anti-oxidant activity and tissue accumulation of tocopherols from a new source].

Properties of a tocopherol concentrate, obtained from side products of cotton oil treatment containing alpha-tocopherol and other isomers of vitamin E and carotinoids at high concentrations, were studied in vivo and in vitro. The concentrate exhibited higher antioxidative activity in reaction with 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazine and inhibited lipid peroxidation in liver microsomes similarly to synthetic alpha-tocopherol. After addition of the concentrate to rat ration at a dose of 100 IU of vitamin E per 100 g of food the animals accumulated tocopherol from this source in the same way as it was observed for the synthetic preparation (liver, heart, lung) or at the higher level (kidney, brain, fatty tissue).

[Effects of different types of nutritional imbalance on lipid peroxidation and viscosity of membrane lipids].

For 90 days male August rats were kept on 5 diets: (I) balanced semisynthetic, (II) with amino acid unbalance, (III) with excess polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), (IV) with vitamin E deficiency, and (V) polyunbalanced (amino acid unbalance, excess PUFA, vitamin E deficiency). In liver microsomes, the authors studied the kinetics of malonic dialdehyde accumulation in the course of NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation (LP) and microviscosity of the lipid phase of microsomal membranes according to eximerization of the pyrene fluorescent hydrophobic probe. The microsomes of the animals fed diets I, III and IV showed on the average a 50 to 55% increase in the rate of MDA formation, whereas those of rats on diet V a 78% increase as compared with appropriate characteristics in the animals fed diet I.

[Action of pro-oxidant diets on the enzymatic system of Ca2+ transport in the sarcoplasmic reticulum].

August male rats were kept for 90 days on one of the following diets: balanced semisynthetic diet with casein as a source of protein (group 1), amino acid balanced diet with casein replaced by gluten (group 2), a diet with excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids (group 3), with vitamin E deficiency (group 4), and polyunbalanced diet, comprising a combination of amino acid imbalance, excess of polyunsaturated acids, and vitamin E deficiency (group 5). Structural and functional parameters of Ca2+ transport (Ca2+ accumulation rate, activity of Ca2+-ATPase, Ca/ATP ratio), content of lipid fractions and accumulation of malonic dialdehyde were studied in sarcoplasmatic reticulum (SR) fragments from rat hind limb muscles in the course of ascorbate-dependent lipid peroxidation. Reduction of Ca2+ absorption rate, Ca2+-ATPase, and Ca/ATP ratio in SR membranes were observed in groups 2-5.