In vitro Effect of -Tocopherol Phosphate on Oxygen Consumption of Muscle from Vitamin E-deficient Animals.

Abstract

Confirming previous observations1 on nutritionally dystrophic rabbits and rats, Houchin2 recently reported the oxygen consumption of dystrophic hamster muscle to be much above that of normal muscle. It was also demonstrated that within 27 hours after administration of α-tocopherol acetate to the dystrophic hamster, the Qo2 of the muscle was reduced toward normal value without significant regeneration of normal muscle status as indicated by a persistent high chloride content.These observations naturally suggested that α-tocopherol may play a role in the normal processes of muscle metabolism. The data in this paper establish the fact that α-tocopherol phosphate† acts in vitro on muscle cells from vitamin E-deficient animals to lower the excessive oxygen consumption toward the. normal.Vitamin E-deficient rabbits, hamsters, and adolescent rats were studied. The oxygen consumption of muscle slices was determined in the usual manner in the Warburg apparatus. The control medium was a modified Locke-Ringer's solu...