Elsevier

Life Sciences

Volume 68, Issue 3, 8 December 2000, Pages 353-359
Life Sciences

Pharmacology letters
Effect of vitamin E on the degradation of hydrogen peroxide in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3205(00)00933-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Vitamin E reacts with radicals such as lipid peroxyl radical (LOO·) and singlet oxygen (1O2), and plays a role in inhibiting lipid peroxidation in cell membranes and preventing the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL). However, only a few studies have investigated the effect of vitamin E on the degradation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Therefore, we examined the effect of vitamin E on glutathione redox cycle-dependent H2O2 degradation activity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Confluent HUVEC were cultured for seven days in media containing various concentrations of vitamin E (α-tocopherol). The level of glutathione redox cycle-dependent H2O2 degradation activity and the intracellular glutathione level were determined. HUVEC that had been cultured in the presence of higher concentrations of vitamin E had a higher level of H2O2 degradation activity and a higher intracellular content of the reduced form of glutathione (GSH). Therefore, it is suggested that the vitamin E-induced increase in H2O2 degradation activity in HUVEC results from an increase in intracellular GSH level.

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    It can react with radicals such as the lipid peroxyl radical and may play a role in the inhibition of lipid peroxidation in cellular membranes. Furthermore, it has been proposed that α-tocopherol mainly degrades H2O2 by increasing the intracellular level of glutathione (Shimpuku et al., 2000). Despite its antioxidant properties, α-tocopherol's efficacy to prevent some pathologies in humans is far from unanimous (Morris and Carson, 2003; Vivekananthan et al., 2003).

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