QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Levander, O. A. Articles by Varma, R. N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Levander, O. A. Articles by Varma, R. N.

Nutritional Interrelationships among Vitamin E, Selenium, Antioxidants and Ethyl Alcohol in the Rat^1,2,

Nutrition Institute, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705

Giving 20% alcohol as the sole drinking fluid delayed the onset of liver necrosis in rats fed a basal diet deficient in vitamin E and selenium. Addition of ethanol in vitro had no effect on the decline in respiration suffered by liver slices prepared from vitamin E- and Se-deficient rats. Determination of hepatic triglycerides in rats given alcohol for 5 to 6 weeks revealed that animals fed the basal vitamin E- and Se-deficient diet tended to have less fat in their livers than animals fed the same diet supplemented with either 500 ppm vitamin E or 0.3 ppm Se as Na₂SeO₃, or both. Certain fat-soluble antioxidants tended to diminish the hepatolipogenic action of ethanol, whereas vitamin E or Se did not. Examination of the time course of the development of alcoholic fatty liver showed that animals fed either the basal necrogenic diet or the basal diet supplemented with vitamin E and Se underwent a similar pathogenesis of alcoholic fatty liver for about 4 weeks. After this time, however, the vitamin E- and Se-deficient animals lost much of their liver fat, whereas the vitamin E- and Se-supplemented animals did not. The sparing action of alcohol on vitamin E- and Se-deficient animals appears inconsistent with a lipoperoxidative mechanism for chronic ethanol hepatotoxicity. The fact that vitamin E and Se tended to enhance the development of alcoholic fatty liver, whereas certain fat-soluble antioxidants did not, seems inconsistent with an antioxidant role for these two nutrients.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin E • selenium • antioxidants • ethyl alcohol

¹ A preliminary report of this work was given at the Ninth International Congress of Nutrition, Mexico City, September 3–9, 1972.

² Mention of a proprietary product does not necessarily imply endorsement by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

³ Participant in the National Urban League Summer Fellowship Program. Summer 1971; permanent address: Division of Home Economics. The Fort Valley State College, Fort Valley, Georgia 31030.

Manuscript received 21 September 1972.