Interaction of dietary vitamin C and vitamin E on guinea pig immune responses to mitogens.

Guinea pigs were fed semipurified diets with 0.2 g/kg vitamin C and either 0, 30 or 200 mg/kg all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate or 10 mg/kg vitamin C and either 0, 30 or 200 mg/kg all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate for 4 weeks. Animals were killed, and blastogenic responses of splenocytes to T- and B-cell mitogens were measured. Both T- and B-cell responses were significantly depressed in vitamin E-deficient guinea pigs when compared to responses from guinea pigs fed diets containing vitamin E. The two dietary levels of vitamin C examined did not affect the magnitude of these responses. The higher dietary vitamin C, however, increased the vitamin E content of the lung at all levels of vitamin E intake.