Dietary vitamin E and levels of reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase in rat blood.

The effects of dietary vitamin E on the important cellular antioxidant defense systems were studied in rat blood. One-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a basal vitamin E-deficient diet and supplemented with either none or 45 ppm vitamin E for 4 months. The activity of glutathione (GSH) peroxidase was decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) in the red blood cells and plasma of vitamin E-deficient rats. The level of GSH in the red cells of vitamin E-deficient rats was also significantly decreased. No detectable GSH was found in the plasma of both groups of animals. The activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase were not significantly altered by the status of dietary vitamin E. Similar results were obtained when 2-month-old male rats were fed the respective diets for 3 months. The results suggest that the decreased levels of GSH and GSH peroxidase in the red cells of animals fed a vitamine E-deficient diet may in part contribute to their increased susceptibility to hemolytic agents.