title: Intestinal malabsorption of vitamin E in primary biliary cirrhosis.
abstract: We studied intestinal absorption of vitamin E in 26 adults with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and 6 control subjects. Seven (27%) PBC patients were vitamin E-deficient based on the ratio of serum vitamin E to serum total lipid concentrations. An oral vitamin E tolerance test was performed in all patients and control subjects using a loading dose of 2000 IU alpha-tocopheryl acetate with measurement of serial serum vitamin E concentrations over 24 h. Vitamin E absorption was expressed as the maximal rise in serum vitamin E above baseline, the area under the oral tolerance test curve, and these two values divided by the fasting total serum lipid concentration. Absorption of vitamin E was significantly impaired in all PBC patients vs. control subjects (p less than 0.01), in vitamin E-deficient vs. vitamin E-sufficient PBC patients (p less than 0.05 to p less than 0.01), and in PBC patients with serum vitamin E levels below 10 micrograms/ml vs. those with serum vitamin E levels above 10 micrograms/ml (p less than 0.01). Vitamin E absorption was inversely related to stage of PBC, serum cholylglycine, total bilirubin, cholesterol, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, and prothrombin time. Patients with serum vitamin E below 10 micrograms/ml, serum total bilirubin above 3 mg/dl, serum cholylglycine above 600 micrograms/dl, or serum alkaline phosphatase above 1000 IU/L had severe malabsorption of vitamin E and would be at high risk for the development of vitamin E deficiency. Therefore, vitamin E supplementation should be considered not only in patients in whom overt vitamin E deficiency is present, but also in PBC patients meeting these criteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sokol
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hoofnagle
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Heubi
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Balistreri
mesh_terms: D002779:Cholestasis / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012016:Reference Values; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D014810:Vitamin E