The mitochondrial electron transport system consumes more than 85% of all oxygen used by the cells, and up to 5% of the oxygen consumed by mitochondria is converted to superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) under normal physiologic conditions. Disruption of mitochondrial ultrastructure is one of the earliest pathologic events during vitamin E depletion. The present studies were undertaken to test whether a direct link exists between vitamin E and the production of hydrogen peroxide in the mitochondria. In the first experiment, mice were fed a vitamin E-deficient or-sufficient diet for 15 weeks, after which the mitochondria from liver and skeletal muscle were isolated to determine the rates of hydrogen peroxide production. Deprivation of vitamin E resulted in an approximately 5-fold increase of mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide production in skeletal muscle and a 1-fold increase in liver when compared with the vitamin E-supplemented group. To determine whether vitamin E can dose-dependently influence the production of hydrogen peroxide, four groups of male and female rats were fed diets containing 0, 20, 200, or 2000 lU/kg vitamin E for 90 d. Results showed that dietary vitamin E dose-dependently attenuated hydrogen peroxide production in mitochondria isolated from liver and skeletal muscle of male and female rats. Female rats, however, were more profoundly affected by dietary vitamin E than male rats in the suppression of mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide production in both organs studied. These results showed that vitamin E can directly regulate hydrogen peroxide production in mitochondria and suggest that the overproduction of mitochondrial ROS is the first event leading to the tissue damage observed in vitamin E-deficiency syndromes. Data further suggested that by regulating mitochondrial production of ROS, vitamin E modulates the expression and activation of signal transduction pathways and other redox-sensitive biologic modifiers, and thereby delays or prevents degenerative tissue changes.

Vitamin E was advocated as an effective treatment for heart disease by Dr. Even Shute of London, Ontario more than 50 years ago. His pioneering claims, which were unacceptable to the medical community at large, have been confirmed by recent findings from epidemiologic studies and clinical trials. This review integrates our current knowledge of atherogenesis with the biological functions of vitamin E. The response-to-injury hypothesis explains atherosclerosis as a chronic inflammatory response to injury of the endothelium, which leads to complex cellular and molecular interactions among cells derived from the endothelium, smooth muscle and several blood cell components. Inflammatory and other stimuli trigger an overproduction of free radicals, which promote peroxidation of lipids in LDL trapped in the subendothelial space. Products of LDL oxidation are bioactive, and they induce endothelial expression and secretion of cytokines, growth factors and several cell surface adhesion molecules. The last-mentioned are capable of recruiting circulating monocytes and T lymphocytes into the intima where monocytes are differentiated into macrophages, the precursor of foam cells. In response to the growth factors and cytokines, smooth muscle cells proliferate in the intima, resulting in the narrowing of the lumen. Oxidized LDL can also inhibit endothelial production of prostacyclin and nitric oxide, two potent autacoids that are vasodilators and inhibitors of platelet aggregation. Evidence is presented that vitamin E is protective against the development of atherosclerosis. Vitamin E enrichment has been shown to retard LDL oxidation, inhibit the proliferation of smooth muscle cells, inhibit platelet adhesion and aggregation, inhibit the expression and function of adhesion molecules, attenuate the synthesis of leukotrienes and potentiate the release of prostacyclin through up-regulating the expression of cytosolic phospholipase A2 and cyclooxygenase. Collectively, these biological functions of vitamin E may account for its protection against the development of atherosclerosis.

Lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso-PC) is a product of phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis by phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and is present in cell membranes, oxidized lipoproteins, and atherosclerotic tissues. It has the ability to alter endothelial functions and is regarded as a causal agent in atherogenesis. In this study, the modulation of arachidonate release by lyso-PC in human umbilical vein endothelial cells was examined. Incubation of endothelial cells with lyso-PC resulted in an enhanced release of arachidonate in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Maximum arachidonate release was observed at 10 min of incubation with 50 microM lyso-PC. Lyso-PC species containing palmitoyl (C16:0) or stearoyl (C18:0) groups elicited the enhancement of arachidonate release, while other lysolipids such as lysophosphatidylethanolamine, lysophosphatidylserine, lysophosphatidylinositol, or lysophosphatidate were relatively ineffective. Lyso-PC-induced arachidonate release was decreased by treatment of cells with PLA2 inhibitors such as para-bromophenacyl bromide and arachidonoyl trifluoromethyl ketone. Furthermore, arachidonate release was attenuated in cells grown in the presence of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides that specifically bind cytosolic PLA2 mRNA. Treatment of cells with lyso-PC resulted in a translocation of PLA2 activity from the cytosolic to the membrane fractions of cells. Lyso-PC induced a rapid influx of Ca2+ from the medium into the cells, with a simultaneous enhancement of protein kinase C (PKC) activity in the membrane fractions. The lyso-PC-induced arachidonate release was attenuated when cells were preincubated with specific inhibitors of PKC (staurosporine and Ro31-8220) or a specific inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular regulated kinase kinase (PD098059). Taken together, the results of this study show that lyso-PC caused the elevation of cellular Ca2+ and the activation of PKC, which stimulated cytosolic PLA2 in an indirect manner and resulted in an enhanced release of arachidonate.

The natural vitamin E (RRR-α-tocopherol) exists in most biological membranes and functions as a chain-breaking antioxidant during lipid peroxidation1. Beyond its antioxidative property, vitamin E has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of smooth muscle cells by modulating protein kinase C2. The regulatory role of vitamin E in the production of certain lipid mediators has also been demonstrated. For instance, vitamin E was found to enhance the transacylation of alkylglycerophosphocholine3, alter the level of phosphatidic acid and diacylglycerol4, and potentiate prostacyclin synthesis in endothelial cells5. In addition, vitamin E was shown to inhibit thromboxane6 and leukotriene7 formation in platelets and neutrophils, respectively.

The present study has examined the role of vitamin E, a natural lipid antioxidant, in the production of diacylglycerol (DAG) and phosphatidic acid (PA) in thrombin-stimulated human endothelial cells. Cells were labelled with [3H]myristate and the incorporation and distribution of [3H]myristate into cellular lipids was not affected by vitamin E. However, in response to thrombin stimulation, considerably more PA and less DAG were formed in cells enriched with vitamin E. The time-course of thrombin stimulation indicated that vitamin E attenuated the accumulation of sustained DAG levels with a concomitant increase in PA. Direct determination of DAG mass further confirmed that vitamin E suppresses the accumulation of DAG induced by thrombin. In the presence of ethanol, the formation of [3H]phosphatidylethanol (PEt) in [3H]myristate-labelled cells stimulated by thrombin was unaffected by vitamin E enrichment. dl-Propranolol, a PA phosphohydrolase inhibitor, caused an accumulation of PA, without affecting DAG formation in either vitamin E-treated and untreated cells. This indicated that the increase in PA and decrease in DAG in vitamin E-treated cells was not due to a stimulation of phospholipase D or an inhibition of PA phosphohydrolase. Determination of inositol phosphates formation in response to thrombin showed that the change of DAG levels elicited by vitamin E was independent of phospholipase C-induced hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids. In contrast, analysis of DAG kinase activity revealed that vitamin E enrichment enhanced the activity of the enzyme in both basal and thrombin-stimulated cells. Taken together, these data indicated that vitamin E caused an increased conversion of DAG to PA by activating DAG kinase activity without causing any change in the activities of phospholipase D, PA phosphohydrolase or phospholipase C.

In addition to the enzymic mechanism of free-radical removal, essential nutrients that can scavenge free radicals, such as vitamins E and C, constitute a strong line of defense in retarding free radical induced cellular damage. Distinct pathways for the repair of oxidized vitamin E in human cells have been recently identified. Within 0.5 min after the addition of arachidonic acid to a human platelet homogenate, over half of the platelet vitamin E and added arachidonate were metabolized by platelet cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways. After adding nordihydroguaiaretic acid, a lipoxygenase inhibitor and a strong reductant, over 60% of the oxidized vitamin E was regenerated. To test other physiological, water-soluble reductants that may help regenerate vitamin E, eicosatetraynoic acid, a lipoxygenase inhibitor that is not an antioxidant, was used. In this system, both ascorbate and glutathione provided significant vitamin E regeneration. Kinetic analysis and studies of vitamin E regeneration in a protein-denaturing system revealed that ascorbate regenerates vitamin E by a nonenzymic mechanism, whereas glutathione regenerates vitamin E enzymatically. These studies suggest that significant interaction occurs between water- and lipid-soluble molecules at the membrane-cytosol interface and that vitamin C may function in vivo to repair the membrane-bound oxidized vitamin E.

The objectives of this study were to determine whether the recycling of tocopherol occurs in elicited rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes and if so, whether the recycling process is enzymic or chemical. When incubated with hemoglobin, tocopherol was oxidized in cell homogenates in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The oxidized tocopherol could be regenerated by addition of ascorbate, glutathione or nordihydroguaiaretic acid. Time course studies showed a rapid regeneration of tocopherol which peaked at 1 min after the addition of reductants. Determination of the regeneration reaction in the presence of CHCl3 and MeOH indicated that under these enzyme-denaturing conditions, a considerable amount of tocopherol was still regenerated, suggesting that the regeneration reaction is predominantly a chemical reaction. This study provided direct evidence from mass analysis that oxidized vitamin E can be regenerated by cellular water-soluble reductants such as ascorbate and glutathione.

Human platelets possess active lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase which convert arachidonic acid to (12S)-12-hydroperoxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HPETE) plus (12S)-12-hydroxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) and thromboxane B2 plus 12-hydroxy-5,8,10-heptadecatrienoic acid (HHT), respectively. When platelet homogenates were incubated with arachidonate, there was a rapid consumption of platelet tocopherol. Time course analysis revealed that within 0.5 min, over half of arachidonate and tocopherol were metabolized. Mass formation of 12-HPETE and 12-HETE or thromboxane B2 and HHT exceeded that of the mass of tocopherol oxidized. Preincubation with the lipoxygenase inhibitor 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acid (ETYA) completely abolished this arachidonate-induced tocopherol oxidation whereas cyclooxygenase inhibitors (indomethacin and aspirin) further potentiated tocopherol oxidation, indicating that this oxidation is closely linked with platelet 12-lipoxygenase activity. Incubation with lipoxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid showed that only 12-HPETE caused a rapid tocopherol oxidation which was followed by a gradual tocopherol regeneration. By using nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), a lipoxygenase inhibitor which is also a strong reductant, over 60% of the arachidonate-induced oxidized tocopherol was regenerated. Tocopherol regeneration declined with increasing oxidation time induced by arachidonate, and after 30-60 min virtually no regeneration could be observed, suggesting that the precursor molecule was unstable. We postulate that the precursor molecule is the tocopheroxyl radical. In the presence of ETYA, a lipoxygenase inhibitor without antioxidant properties, either ascorbate or GSH provided significant tocopherol regeneration. Kinetic studies showed that tocopherol regeneration after the addition of ascorbate was essentially completed by 1 min. By contrast, GSH addition caused a steady increase in tocopherol which peaked after 10 min of its addition. To determine whether this rapid regeneration is chemical or enzymic, regeneration was studied in the presence of chloroform and methanol. Comparison of various reductants in this denaturing condition for enzymes showed that ascorbate and NDGA afforded significant regeneration whereas GSH was ineffective, indicating that there are distinct enzymic and non-enzymic mechanisms for tocopherol regeneration. This study provides direct evidence from mass analysis that tocopherol can be regenerated in human cell homogenates. This finding implies that maintenance of membrane tocopherol status may be an essential function of ascorbate and GSH which operate in concert to ensure maximum membrane protection against oxidative damage.

Free radical-mediated reperfusion injury has been established as an important mechanism leading to post-ischemic reperfusion myocardial damage. The present study was undertaken to determine the protective role of vitamin E, a membrane-bound free-radical scavenger, on ischemia-reperfusion myocardial injury. After 4 months of feeding a semipurified diet containing 0, 30, and 3000 ppm of R,R,R,-alpha-tocopherol acetate, rat hearts were subjected to Langendorff perfusion. Myocardial damage was judged by the release of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) after 45 min of global ischemia followed by 20 min of reperfusion. Effluent CPK was significantly lowered in the two tocopherol-supplemented groups, although increasing dietary vitamin E by 100-fold above requirement did not confer further protection. However, effluent prostacyclin, detected as the stable metabolite 6-keto-PGF1 alpha by radioimmunoassay, was potentiated by dietary vitamin E in a dose-dependent manner. Analysis of lipids in cardiac subcellular fractions showed considerable enrichment of tocopherol in these membranes by diets, but the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, phospholipids, and cholesterol were essentially unchanged by dietary treatment or ischemia-reperfusion. These data demonstrated that requirement level of tocopherol (30 ppm) in the diet is sufficient to protect against reperfusion injury of the myocardium and suggests that tocopherol is important in maintaining cardiac prostacyclin synthesis under conditions of oxygen stress.

Activation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNL) leads to the release of arachidonate from cellular phospholipids via a phospholipase A2, and conversion of products of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway. Evidence to date indicates the dietary vitamin E ((R,R,R)-α-tocopherol) can influence both cyclooxygenase and phospholipase A2 activities and that the effect of this vitamin is cell/tissue specific. The present study was undertaken in order to examine the effects of varying dietary tocopherol on PMNL tocopherol content and 5-lipoxygenase product profile using the ionophore A23187 as stimulant in the presence and absence of exogenous arachidonate. Feeding semi-purified diets containing 0, 30 or 3000 ppm of(R,R,R)-α-tocopherol acetate to weanling rats for 17 weeks resulted in a dose-related enrichment of PMNL tocopherol. Stimulation of PMNL elicited a significant and rapid loss of tocopherol. When PMNL were stimulated with A23187 alone, the synthesis of 5-HETE, LTB4 and 19-hydroxy-LTB4 was decreased in proportion to increasing dietary tocopherol concentrations. However, when exogenous arachidonate was provided with A23187, intermediate amounts of dietary tocopherol (30 ppm) still suppressed the formation of 5-lipoxygenase products, but high doses (3000 ppm) did not have any additional inhibitory effect. This differential response to high concentrations of vitamin E in the presence and absence of exogenous arachidonate highly suggest that at these concentrations, tocopherol may act principally at the level of substrate release wherease at lower concentrations, 5-lipoxygenase is inhibited. Data from this study demonstrated that attenuation of the formation of 5-lipoxygenase products in PMNL can be achieved by dietary vitamin E enrichment.

The effect of (R,R,R)-alpha-tocopherol on agonist-stimulated arachidonate release and cellular lipids was investigated in cultured human umbilical cord endothelial cells. Endothelial cells in culture incorporate added tocopherol in a dose-dependent manner at both physiological (23.2 microM) or pharmacological (92.8 microM) concentrations which were well tolerated by the cells, as judged by unaltered cell number and viability. Two experiments were conducted in which cells were either incubated with (R,R,R)-alpha-tocopherol followed by labelling with [1-14C]arachidonic acid or they were labelled with arachidonate followed by incubation with tocopherol. Irrespective of the sequence of incubation with arachidonate and tocopherol, (R,R,R)-alpha-tocopherol-enriched cells released significantly more labelled arachidonate when stimulated with thrombin (2.5 U/ml) or ionophore A23187 (1 microM) for 10 min. The magnitude of [1-14C]arachidonate release was higher from ionophore A23187 stimulation than from thrombin stimulation, but the trend of increased arachidonate release in tocopherol-enriched cells was the same. Results from these studies demonstrate that (R,R,R)-alpha-tocopherol can stimulate arachidonate release in human endothelial cells. This observation is in direct contrast to the role of tocopherol, which has been shown to inhibit platelet and cardiac phospholipase A2 activity in rats, and to reduce thrombin-stimulated thromboxane release in rat platelets.

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of different amounts of dietary vitamin E on platelet tocopherol levels and 12-lipoxygenase activity when exogenous arachidonic acid was used as substrate. Weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing 0, 50, and 5000 ppm of D-alpha-tocopherol acetate for 4 months. Platelet tocopherol was increased with increasing concentrations of dietary vitamin E; however, the conversion of exogenously added arachidonate by platelet to 12-HETE (12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid) and thromboxane B2 from these three dietary groups was essentially the same. This study provides direct evidence that platelet 12-lipoxygenase activity is independent of its vitamin E content when exogenously added arachidonate was used as substrate.

Human platelet lipooxygenase converts arachidonic acid to 12-hydroperoxy-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HPETE), which is rapidly reduced by peroxidases to 12-hydroxy-eicosa-tetraenoic acid (12-HETE). This study was conducted to examine the effect of vitamin E supplementation on platelet 12-lipooxygenase activity. Sixteen healthy subjects were supplemented with 400 IU/day of either D-α-tocopherol (268 mg) or DL-α-tocopherol (364 mg) for 4 wk. Supplements elicited a transitory increase of lipooxygenase activity but a suppression of peroxidase activity, as indicated by increased 12-HETE production and 12-HPETE accumulation. Plasma-tocopherol concentration was double the presupplement value and remained stable during supplementation. Neither age, sex, nor isomeric form of tocopherol supplement significantly influenced the pattern of response. Results show that vitamin E exerts a differential effect on platelet lipooxygenase and peroxidase activities.

One of the most important functions of phospholipase A2 is the release of arachidonic acid from membrane phospholipids for the synthesis of biologically active eicosanoids. We have demonstrated in our laboratory that vitamin E inhibits platelet phospholipase A2 in a dose-dependent manner. Rats fed a 100 ppm or a 1000 ppm vitamin E diet exhibit diminished phospholipase A2 activity compared to those fed a vitamin E-free diet. Addition of vitamin E to a sonicated platelet suspension resulted in further suppression of the phospholipase A2 activity in all groups of rats. In order to gain insight into the mechanism of vitamin E inhibition of platelet phospholipase A2, we partially purified this enzyme by gel filtration chromatography. Enzyme activity was localized in the soluble supernatant fraction of a high-speed spin. This partially purified rat platelet phospholipase A2 had an absolute requirement for Ca2+ and was inhibited by various forms of tocopherol. Tocol inhibited the enzyme to a greater extent than either d- or dl-α-tocopherol, while there was little or no effect from dl-α-tocopherol acetate. These results emphasize the importance of the hydroxyl moiety on the chromanol of the vitamin E molecule for its inhibitory action, compared to that of the methyl groups which are absent in tocol. This inhibitory action of vitamin E on platelet phospholipase A2 suggests a crucial function for vitamin E in regulating arachidonate release from the membrane phospholipids and its subsequent metabolism.

The hydrolysis of acyl esters in phosphatidylcholine by phospholipase A2 (PLA2) for human placental blood vessel was investigated. The enzyme displayed an alkaline pH optimum and an absolute requirement of Ca2+ for activity. In contrast to rat tissues, the human placental blood vessel PLA2 showed a selective preference for arachidonate over linoleate acyl group at the sn-2 position of phosphatidylcholine.