Abstract
Vitamin E, which exhibits anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-thrombogenesis properties, has been shown to improve retinal blood flow in diabetic retinopathy. This study aim to investigate the effects of Vitamin E (Tocovid) on retinal microhaemorrhages and diabetic macular edema (DME) in diabetic retinopathy. A total of 30 participants were randomly allocated to the treatment group or placebo group. The participants in the treatment group (n = 19) received 200 mg Tocovid twice daily while participants in placebo group (n = 21) received placebo twice daily for 12 weeks.
Highlights
Vitamin A is a lipid-soluble anti-oxidant essential vitamin important for a variety of biological functions including eyesight, modulation of energy metabolism, maintenance of soft tissues, mucous membranes and skin as well as in sustaining the immune system [1,2]
This is likely mediated by a combination of events including increased oxidation of proteins in soleus muscles during activity and decreased glycogen stores, with little or no effect on the content of proteins involved in skeletal muscle excitation contraction coupling (ECC)
This study supports and extends our previous findings on the role of vitamin A in muscle function, where we showed that producing more retinoic acid locally leads to increased glucose uptake resulting in larger glycogen stores [5]
Summary
Vitamin A is a lipid-soluble anti-oxidant essential vitamin important for a variety of biological functions including eyesight, modulation of energy metabolism, maintenance of soft tissues, mucous membranes and skin as well as in sustaining the immune system [1,2]. The ergogenic effect of dietary vitamin A supplements and of other anti-oxidants is still a matter of debate [4], a recent study from our laboratory demonstrated that mice over-expressing the retinol dehydrogenase SRP-35 in their skeletal muscles showed enhanced muscle performance [5]. SRP-35 is a 35 kDa membrane bound protein of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) belonging to the DHRS7C [dehydrogenase/reductase (short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase family) member 7C] subfamily [6,7,8]; metabolizing retinol (Vitamin A) to all-trans-retinaldehyde [8], the substrate for the irreversible oxidative reaction generating all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). Since SRP35 is located in the SR, these results imply that vitamin A and/or its metabolites may be important locally, generating retinol in the organelle primarily involved in calcium regulation thereby playing an important role in skeletal muscle function
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