"It's hard to say functionally what those cytokine changes might mean," Huey said. "IL-1beta is primarily a pro-inflammatory cytokine, so that could be a good thing – especially in terms of cardiac function."

However, she said, "IL-6 can have both pro- or anti-inflammatory actions." She said that the literature has yielded some evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of chronic increases in IL-6. But the effects of acute increases in IL-6 in skeletal muscles – which occur during exercise – may be another story.

"Whether there's a difference between exercise-induced increases versus inflammation-induced increases in IL-6 is still highly debatable," she said.

Nonetheless, Huey said, the larger take-home message of the study, published in the December issue of the journal Experimental Physiology, is that Vitamin E "may be beneficial in individuals with chronic inflammation, such as the elderly or patients with type II diabetes or chronic heart failure."

While the Illinois research team's work provides a foundation for future investigations that could ultimately have positive outcomes for people afflicted with chronic skeletal or cardiac muscle inflammation, Huey cautioned that it is still far too soon to speculate on results in humans.

"This is clearly an animal model so whether it would translate to humans still requires a lot more research," she said. "Vitamin E is a supplement that is already approved, and these results may suggest an additional benefit of taking Vitamin E beyond what's already been shown."

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign