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Effect of Dietary Ascorbic Acid and Vitamin E on Metabolic Changes in Rats and Guinea Pigs Exposed to PCB¹

Laboratory of Nutritional Biochemistry, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464, Japan

The effect of the addition of dietary ascorbic acid and/or vitamin E (all-rac--tocopheryl acetate) in rats and guinea pigs exposed to PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) was studied. Rats were fed diets containing one of three levels of vitamin E (30, 500 or 1000 mg/kg diet) with or without PCB (200 mg/kg diet). Guinea pigs were fed diets containing PCB (40 mg/kg diet) with 200 or 1000 mg ascorbic acid/kg diet and/or 70 or 2000 mg vitamin E/kg diet. For rats fed PCB, ascorbic acid in urine was 40-fold higher and in liver, 2-fold higher than for rats fed no PCB, and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS, indicators of lipid peroxidation) in liver was 1.5-fold higher. In rats fed PCB, high dietary vitamin E significantly lowered the urinary ascorbic acid and TBA-RS. Liver ascorbic acid was lowered by high dietary vitamin E only in control rats. In guinea pigs, feeding PCB caused severe growth retardation and the liver TBA-RS was 1.8-fold higher than in guinea pigs not fed PCB. Feeding high levels of both ascorbic acid and vitamin E was more effective in reversing the growth depression and in lowering TBA-RS level (due to PCB) than feeding the vitamins separately. Ascorbic acid metabolism in rats was affected by high dietary vitamin E. The possibility of a higher requirement for ascorbic acid and vitamin E in guinea pigs exposed to PCB was indicated. Interaction of ascorbic acid and vitamin E in animals exposed to PCB was suggested.

KEY WORDS: • PCB • TBA-RS • ascorbic acid • vitamin E

¹ Supported by a grant from the Elizabeth Arnold Fuji Foundation.

² To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 12 February 1985. Revision accepted 18 September 1985.

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