Abstract
Effects of vitamin E-deficiency, dietary fat (corn oil versus lard), and incubation on ultrastructure of platelets, red and white cells, and on selected biochemical parameters of platelets and plasma were studied. Platelets from vitamin E-deficient rats had no obvious morphological defects, but reticulocytes and lymphocytes had swollen and deformed mitochondria. Fatty acid and glycogen levels of platelets were not affected by the deficiency but total lipid levels in plasma were decreased of increased depending upon the type and level of dietary fat. In comparison with supplemented controls, the proportion of stearate increased in the phospholipid fraction of plasma from vitamin E-deficient, lard-fed but not corn oil-fed rats. In platelets, total fatty acids per mg protein were 8-12% lower with lard than with corn oil as fat source. Oleate and linoleate were higher and lower, respectively, although not to the same degree, and arachidonate was not affected. With incubation of platelet-rich plasma at 37 degrees C for 6 hr, there were no obvious morphological changes in platelets from control or from deficient, lard-fed rats, but platelets from deficient, corn oil-fed rats contained mitochondria that were swollen and deformed. Incubation did not affect fatty acid, glycogen, or tocopherol levels of platelets or tocopherol levels of plasma, regardless of type or amount of dietary fat.
Highlights
Effects of vitamin E-deficiency, dietary fat, and incubation on ultrastructure of platelets, red and white cells, and on selected biochemical parameters of platelets and plasma were studied
Morphological alterations in platelets from rats fed vitamin E-deficient diets containing two levels of either lard or corn oil are described and possible relationships between these observations and measurements of changes in fatty acid, tocopherol, and glycogen content in platelets and plasma are discussed. Both lard and corn oil were used as fat sources in order to vary the stress on vitamin E-deficiency that is associated with dietary and tissue levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)
Platelets from control rats possessed ultrastructural features described for other species. They were discoid in shape and contained numerous surface-connecting system channels, secretory granules, and mitochondria (Fig. 1)
Summary
Effects of vitamin E-deficiency, dietary fat (corn oil versus lard), and incubation on ultrastructure of platelets, red and white cells, and on selected biochemical parameters of platelets and plasma were studied. Morphological alterations in platelets from rats fed vitamin E-deficient diets containing two levels of either lard (low linoleic acid) or corn oil (high linoleic acid) are described and possible relationships between these observations and measurements of changes in fatty acid, tocopherol, and glycogen content in platelets and plasma are discussed. Both lard and corn oil were used as fat sources in order to vary the stress on vitamin E-deficiency that is associated with dietary and tissue levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In the course of these studies we observed abnormalities of mitochondria in reticulocytes and lymphocytes from vitamin E-deficient rats, which are reported
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