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Page 1 of 2 Melissa Mitchell
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With up to half of a person's body mass consisting of skeletal
muscle, chronic inflammation of those muscles – which include those
found in the limbs – can result in significant physical impairment.
According to University of Illinois kinesiology and community health
professor Kimberly Huey, past research has demonstrated that the
antioxidant properties of Vitamin E may be associated with reduced
expression of certain pro-inflammatory cytokines, in vitro, in various
types of cells. Cytokines are regulatory proteins that function as
intercellular communicators that assist the immune system in generating
a response.
To consider whether the administration of Vitamin E, in vivo, might
have similar effects on skeletal and cardiac muscle, Huey and a team of
Illinois researchers put Vitamin E to the test in mice. The team
included study designer Rodney Johnson, a U. of I. professor of animal
sciences, whose previous work has suggested a possible link, in mice,
between short-term Vitamin E supplementation and reduced inflammation
in the brain.
The study represents the first time researchers have looked at in
vivo effects of Vitamin E administration on local inflammatory
responses in skeletal and cardiac muscle.
In this study, the researchers investigated the effects of prior
administration of Vitamin E in mice that were then injected with a low
dose of E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce acute
systemic inflammation. The effects were compared with those found in
placebo control groups.
The research team examined the impact the Vitamin E or placebo
treatment had on the mRNA and protein levels of three cytokines –
interleukin (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and
IL-1beta.
"The mice were administered Vitamin E for three days prior to giving
them what amounts to a minor systemic bacterial infection," Huey said.
"One thing we did – in addition to (looking at) the cytokines – was to
look, in the muscle, at the amount of oxidized proteins.
"Oxidation can be detrimental, and in muscle has been associated with reduced muscle strength," Huey said.
Among the team's major findings, in terms of function, Huey said,
was that "there was a significant reduction in the amount of
LPS-induced oxidized proteins with Vitamin E compared to placebo."
"So that's a good thing," she said. "Potentially, if you reduce the
oxidized proteins, that may correlate to increased muscle strength."
Additionally, the researchers' experiments yielded a significant
decrease in two cytokines – IL-6 and IL-1beta – with Vitamin E,
compared with the placebo.
That finding translates to somewhat mixed reviews.
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