Vitamin E deficiency does not induce compensatory antioxidant increases in central nervous system tissue of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.

Compensatory upregulation in endogenous antioxidants has been shown to accompany certain genetic and dietary deficiencies that promote oxidative stress, including that related to Alzheimer's disease. We compared antioxidant levels in brain tissue of normal and transgenic mice lacking apolipoprotein E following dietary deprivation of vitamin E or folate. As described previously, ApoE-deficient mice displayed increased levels of the endogenous antioxidant glutathione as compared to normal mice, and increased these levels further following folate deprivation.