title: Dietary vitamin E modulates differential gene expression in the rat hippocampus: potential implications for its neuroprotective properties.
abstract: A wide range of cell culture, animal and human epidemiological studies are suggestive of a role of vitamin E (VE) in brain function and in the prevention of neurodegeneration. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In the current investigation Affymetrix gene chip technology was utilised to establish the impact of chronic VE deficiency on hippocampal genes expression. Male albino rats were fed either a VE deficient or standard diet (60 mg/kg feed) for a period of 9 months. Rats were sacrificed, the hippocampus removed and genes expression established in individual animals. VE deficiency showed to have a strong impact on genes expression in the hippocampus. An important number of genes found to be regulated by VE was associated with hormones and hormone metabolism, nerve growth factor, apoptosis, dopaminergic neurotransmission, and clearance of amyloid-beta and advanced glycated endproducts. In particular, VE strongly affected the expression of an array of genes encoding for proteins directly or indirectly involved in the clearance of amyloid beta, changes which are consistent with a protective effect of VE on Alzheimer's disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Hugh Sinclair Human Nutrition Unit, School of Food Biosciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AP, UK.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rota
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rimbach
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Minihane
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stoecklin
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barella
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D014810:Vitamin E