Anti-inflammatory properties of alpha- and gamma-tocopherol.
Natural vitamin E consists of four different tocopherol and four different tocotrienol homologues (alpha,beta, gamma, delta) that all have antioxidant activity. However, recent data indicate that the different vitamin E homologues also have biological activity unrelated to their antioxidant activity. In this review, we discuss the anti-inflammatory properties of the two major forms of vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol (alphaT) and gamma-tocopherol (gammaT), and discuss the potential molecular mechanisms involved in these effects. While both tocopherols exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in vitro and in vivo, supplementation with mixed (gammaT-enriched) tocopherols seems to be more potent than supplementation with alphaT alone. This may explain the mostly negative outcomes of the recent large-scale interventional chronic disease prevention trials with alphaT only and thus warrants further investigation.
Reiter
Elke
E
Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Berne, Friedbühlstrasse 51, CH-3010 Berne, Switzerland.
Jiang
Qing
Q
Christen
Stephan
S
D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol