The Effect of Vitamin E on the Immune Response of Hypoxic and Normal Chickens*

Abstract

Chicks and hens raised on a diet enriched with 60 mg of vitamin E per lb. of feed had a significantly increased immune response as measured by the antibody plaque-forming cell test or by hemagglutination. Since the effect was much greater on hypoxic (simulated altitude exposed) chicks, a synergistic effect between hypoxia and vitamin E may be suggested.Vitamin E, which was first recognized as a fertility factor for rats (10) and is known as a powerful antioxidant (7), apparently has other important but less known functions. Among these functions may be the involvement in the cellular development of the hemopoietic-immunopoietic system, the cells of which most likely originate from a common pluripotential stem cell (12). The involvement of vitamin E in the development and population kinetics of erythroid cells has already been demonstrated (3,6,8 Fig. 1 that vitamin E significantly increased the number of AB PFC both at ground level (1,500 m) and at 4,800 m simulated altitude level. However, the great increase in PFC in the altitude group indicated that the effect of vitamin E and hypoxia was synergistic.The unusually high background counts in Fig. 1 as compared to those obtained by others (1) probably were due to the use of undiluted guinea pig complement and indicated a large percentage of nonspecifically reacting cells, which are most likely not precursors of PFC (5). Those cells which responded specifically to the SRBC immunogenic stimulus, however, gave significant differences within treatment groups and compared to the controls (P < 0.05). The background PFC counts among diet and altitude controls were not significantly different. The HA titers in these young chicks at this stage were too low to interpret correctly.The chicks were reimmunized at age 31 days, partly to see whether a residual effect of the hypoxic shock remained and partly to see the change in the secondary response. Figure 2 shows the result of an indirect PFC test, showing that (i) the previous hypoxic shock had no

Effect of Vitamin E on Contact Sensitization Responses Induced by 2,4-Dinitrochlorobenzene in Mice.

“…Weight of draining auricular lymph nodes, lymph node cell number in the lymph nodes and 3HTdR incorporation into the cells of control mice fed a vitamin E-adequate diet were higher than those of the control mice fed a vitamin E-deficient diet (Table 1 , control). Lymph node weight, lymph node cell number and 3HTdR incorporation were increased by topical exposure to DNCB, and these values from mice fed a vitamin E-adequate diet were greater than those from mice fed a vitamin E-deficient diet ( of lymphocytes to mitogen (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). However, to our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the effect of vitamin E on sensitization response to contact allergens.…”

Alpha Tocopherol Alters the Distribution of Langerhans Cells in DMBA-treated Hamster Cheek Pouch Epithelium

“…The effect is particularly significant in the primary immune response, and involves the early shift from IgM to IgG antibody synthesis (Tengerdy et al, 1983;Tanaka et al, 1979). Utilizing this knowledge, it is conceivable that vitamin E might also affect macrophage populations, which are associated with antigen processing and presentation of antigen to T and B lymphocytes to produce a humoral response (Axelrod, 1980;Campbell et al, 1974;Miller and Nossal, 1964;Nockels, 1978;Tengerdy et al, 1972;Tengerdy et al, 1973). The Langerhans cells could also be affected through the vitamin's ability to stabilize membranes and its anti-oxidant property (Krivit, 1979;Gross, 1979;Heinzerling et al, 1974;Baehner and Boxer, 1979).…”

Survival in Septic Guinea Pigs Is Influenced by Vitamin E, but Not by Vitamin C in Enteral Diets

“…to have no effect, or to depress proliferation of lymphocytes in vitro.2:3.25.26 Parenteral vitamin E supplementation every other day for 2 weeks following 20% TBSA steam burn to mice improved the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response to dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB).27 Vitamin E supplementation also improves both primary and secondary antibody production. 7,9,[28][29][30][31] Of interest are the observations in this study that increasing amounts of vitamin E do not sustain the beneficial effects of the moderate supplemental dose. Heinzerling and associates supplemented the solid diets of chicks with vitamin E prior to parenteral challenge with E. coli, and did not observe a loss of beneficial effect as the dose was increased from 150 mg of vitamin E per kg of chow to 300 mgjkg.7 However, the same group found varying efficacy of supplemental vitamin E added to the solid diets of mice fed prior to challenge with D.…”