714 XI. VITAMINS E (tocopherols) 



posed to ultraviolet irradiation. The pigment has considerable resem- 

 blance to the so-called "ceroid" which was first characterized bj^ LiUie 

 et al.^^^ It has been observed in association with nutritional cirrhosis in 

 the rat. It is believed to originate ^^^'^^^ through autoxidation of un- 

 saturated lipids which have accumulated pathologically in the cells in 

 which there is an insufficient supply of l^ologic antioxidants. Ceroid 

 accumulates in animals fed on cirrhosis-producing diets when cod liver oil 

 is given and vitamin E is deficient. Tocopherol supplements inhibit its 

 formation. '^^ Mason, Dam, and Grenados'^^ demonstrated that the 

 accumulation of a ceroid-like pigment in the adipose tissue of rats on a low- 

 vitamin E regimen, which is the closest morphologic counterpart to ceroid 

 formation in infiltrated liver, occurs only when dienoic acids having at 

 least eighteen carbons are present.""" Dam and Granados^"' are of the 

 opinion that the presence of peroxides in the adipose tissue probably plays 

 a role in pigment formation. Harris et al.^^ calls attention to the fact 

 that this acid-fast pigment accumulates in the same sites, and has many 

 of the same characteristics, as the so-called "wear and tear" pigment 

 normally found, according to IMason and Emmel,-"^'^"^ in the adrenal cortex, 

 sex glands, and other tissues in the body. For this reason care should be 

 exercised in relating this pigment formation solely to avitaminosis E. 



c. The Role of Vitamin E in Reproduction. The disco^'ery of vitamin E 

 (a-tocopherol) was based upon its requirement for reproduction, and hence 

 it was first referred to as the antisterility vitamin. It was soon recognized 

 that vitamin E was necessary not only to prevent the resorption of the 

 fetuses in the pregnant female, but also to prevent the degeneration of 

 the testes in the male. While the effect of a vitamin E-deficiency in females 

 is not a permanent one, and can be avoided in a subsequent pregnancy if 

 sufficient vitamin E is available, the damage to the male is irreparable once 

 it has occurred. 



(a) Testicular Degeneration in Avitaminosis E. When young male rats 

 are maintained on a vitamin E-free diet, no injury to the seminiferous epi- 



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 Health Repts., 57, 502-508 (1942). 



!''« R. D. Lillie, Stain Techno!., 27, 37-45 (1952). 



1" W. G. B. Casselman, J. Exptl. Med., 94, 549-562 (1951). 



'58 J. Victor and A. AI. Pappenheimer, J. Exptl. Med., 82, 375-383 (1945). 



133 K. E. Mason, H. Dam, and H. Granados, Anat. Record, 94, 265-287 (1946). 



^° L. J. Filer, Jr., R. E. Rumery, and K. E. Mason, Trans. 1st Conf. on Biol. Anti- 

 oxidants, Josiah Macy, Jr., Foiuidation, New York, Oct., 1946, pp. 67-77. 



=«" H. Dam and H.' Granados, Acta Phijsiol. Scand., 10, 162-171 (1945). 



202 K. E. Mason and A. F. Emmel, Yale J. Biol. Med., 17, 189-202 (1944). 



203 K. E. Mason and A. F. Emmel, Anat. Record, 92, 33-50 (1945). 



