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Query: UMLS:C0042875 (vitamin E deficiency)
 916 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Vitamin E was discovered by Evans and Bishop in 1922. Work in the 1930s revealed the chemical structure and the biological function of alpha-tocopherol. In the 1940s Filer and others demonstrated that vitamin E protects tissue unsaturated fatty acids against oxidation. The 1940s and the 1950s marked the beginning of interest in the role of vitamin E in infant nutrition. During this period, investigators examined the intestinal absorption of vitamin E in infants and its use for the prevention of hemolysis, retrolental fibroplasia, intracranial hemorrhage, and pulmonary oxygen toxicity. These studies were the forerunners of more recent studies examining possible benefits of vitamin E therapy in premature infants. Recent studies confirmed earlier reports indicating that enteral administration of vitamin E is the safest and most effective route in infants. Although preventing vitamin E deficiency is clearly necessary, neither earlier nor more recent work has shown any benefit from high-dose vitamin E therapy (greater than 20 IU X kg-1 X d-1) for premature infants.
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PMID:History of vitamin E in infant nutrition. 330 Feb 57

To test whether vitamin E deficiency might influence the course of essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency, Long Evans rats were fed diets containing a marginal amount (1.5% of calories) of 18:2 omega 6 or 18:3 omega 3 fatty acid with complete absence of the other and with or without vitamin E. Vitamin E contents decreased continuously in serum and liver in all rats fed the E-free diets but in the brains of only the rats fed the marginal 18:3 omega 3, E-free diet. It is considered that the vitamin E is cooxidized in the liver with 22:6 omega 3, since this fatty acid is very low in livers of the rats fed the marginal 18:2 omega 6 diet but much higher in livers of the rats fed the marginal 18:3 omega 3 diet. Brain 22:6 omega 3 values are comparable for both groups. The source of 22:6 omega 3 is evidently in the mother's milk, since following weaning there is a precipitous drop in 22:6 omega 3 in serum, liver and carcass of rats on the 18:2 omega 6--containing diet. No significant signs of EFA deficiency were seen in the E-deficient rats.
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PMID:A relationship between essential fatty acid and vitamin E deficiency. 376 33

To study how the expression of alpha-tocopherol transfer protein (alpha-TTP) and its mRNA are affected by protein and vitamin E status, Long-Evans male weanling rats were fed a vitamin E-deficient (DE), high vitamin E (HE, 5 g/kg diet of all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) or control (C) diet for 12 wk in Experiment 1; and fed a low-protein (LP) or control (C) diet for 6 wk in Experiment 2. The high and deficient vitamin E status of HE and DE groups in Experiment 1 were confirmed by changes in plasma pyruvate kinase activity as well as the concentrations of alpha-tocopherol in plasma and liver. As shown by the Northern and Western Blot Analysis, the expression of alpha-TTP in the liver of the DE group was significantly lower than, while that of the HE group was not different from, that of the controls. In contrast, the alpha-TTP mRNA levels did not differ among the C, DE and HE groups. alpha-Tocopherol in most peripheral tissues of rats fed the LP diet in Experiment 2 was significantly lower than that of the C. Both the alpha-TTP and its mRNA were significantly lower in the LP group than in the C. The results suggested that dietary vitamin E does not affect alpha-TTP gene expression except that the protein levels in the liver were lowered by vitamin E deficiency. On the other hand, protein inadequacy appeared to down-regulate the expression of the alpha-TTP gene.
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PMID:Liver alpha-tocopherol transfer protein and its mRNA are differentially altered by dietary vitamin E deficiency and protein insufficiency in rats. 986 80