TOCOPHEROLS IN VARIOUS METABOLIC PROCESSES 705 



co-workers^^^ considered that the maintenance of a high level of creatine 

 and of phosphocreatine in the heart muscle of patients who have suffered 

 from cardiac disturbances is evidence that complete recovery has taken 

 place. In this case there would be an adequate supply of phosphocreatine 

 as a source of potential energy for the contraction of the heart muscle, and 

 possibly the likelihood of resisting future coronary stresses and strains 

 would be increased. Phosphocreatine levels in the cortex of the kidney 

 of the rat/^" and in the skeletal muscle of the calf/^^ have been found to be 

 reduced bj^ vitamin E deficiency. 



Harris and Mason^'*- found that, in dystrophic children, the degree of 

 creatinuria increased with advancing age, and that there was no appreci- 

 able change in the excretion of creatinine. In normal children of com- 

 parable ages, a shght decrease in creatinuria and a marked increase in 

 creatine excretion occurred. Thus, the ratio of creatine to creatinine ex- 

 creted in the urine is an effective criterion for expressing this response, 

 since children with muscular dystrophy exhibit an increasing ratio with 

 age, whereas the ratio for normal children actualty decreases. 



(c) Myoglobinuria. The attacks of paroxysmal myoglobinuria which 

 occur during progressi\'e muscular dystrophy are definitely reheved, and 

 the excessive myoglobin excretion in the urine is completely inhibited, 

 when a-tocopherol is given. ^^^ In experimental nutritional muscular 

 dystrophy in the rabbit, the tui-nover rate of myoglobin is markedly in- 

 creased. ^^^'^^^ Blaxter^^^ like^^^se observed that, in calves suffering from 

 muscular degeneration, a marked decrease in myoglobin and in the con- 

 tractile proteins obtains. 



(d) Muscle Proteins. Marked alterations in the levels of muscle pro- 

 teins occur in vitamin E-deficiency. Thus, a number of different groups of 

 investigators'^®~^^^ have confirmed the fact that there is a definite decrease 

 in the myosin content of vitamin E-deficient rabbits, associated with a 



'33 D. C. Sutton, G. C. Sutton, G. F. Hinkens, W. B. Buckingham, and R. Rondinelli, 

 Amer. Heart J., 47, 67-76 (1954). 



1* J. Frev, Naunyn-Schmiedeberg' s Arch, exptl. Pathol. PhannakoL, 221, 482-488 

 (1954). 



1" K. L. Blaxter, Vet. Record, 65, 835-838 (1953). 



'^2 p. L. Harris and K. E. Mason, Ain. J. Clin. Nutrition, 4, 402-407 (1956). 



'" I). Acheson and D. McAlpine, Lancet {265), 1953, TI, 372-375. 



'" I. Indovina, Ain. J. Physiol., 165, 352-355 (1951). 



'« I. Indovina, Boll. soc. Hal. hiol. sper., 27, 91-92 (1951). 



'« M. .\loisi, A. Ascenzi, and E. Bonetti, Experientia, 8, 266-267 (1952). 



'^' M. Aloisi, A. .\scenzi, and E. Bonetti, ./. Pathol. Bacterial., 64, 321-327 (1952). 



'« E. Bonetti, M. Aloisi, and P. Merucci, Experientia, 8, 69-71 (1952). 



'^' G. Feuer and A. Frigves, Acta Physiol. Acad. Set. Hung., 3, 1-13 (1952); Chem 

 .4 65^., .^7, 4976 (1953). 



