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The effects of vitamin E deficiency and/or ionizing radiation on uterine ceroid pigment development and several other parameters in the rat Marchant, Ruth Yu Yoke

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Vitamin E deficiency and/or ionizing radiation on uterine ceroidogenesis, incisor depigmentation, serum Vitamin E, haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit, 2,3-DPG and adipose tissue fatty acid composition in rats. An attempt was also made to define the nature of ceroid and to examine its relationship to lipofuscin. Rats fed a Vitamin E deficient diet deposited increasing amounts of ceroid in the uterine musculature between 90 to 261 days after the imposition of the experimental diets. This pigment was found to be essentially similar to lipofuscin. Ionizing radiation did not have any apparent effect on the rate and degree of ceroidogenesis in Vitamin E deficient rats, althought it did cause a significant decrease in the serum Vitamin E levels of both Vitamin E deficient and supplemented animals. The serum Vitamin E of the deficient animals were significantly lower than those of the supplemented animals, irrespective of their radiation status. Vitamin E deficiency also caused a depigmentation of the maxillary incisors of the animals and had no effect on the haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit and 2,3-DPG levels of these rats. Finally, Vitamin E deficiency and ionizing radiation resulted in a decrease in the polyunsaturated fatty acid content of adipose tissues.

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