TOCOPHEROLIS IN VAKIOU8 METABOLIC PKOCESSES 715 



thelium occurs until active spermatogenesis begins, that is, at about three 

 months of age, after which a progressive and relatively rapid degeneration 

 of the epithehum ensues. Although a number of investigators^^ •^^--"^"^"^ 

 are in close agreement on the distinct character and the irreparable nature 

 of the histopathologic changes, there is no satisfactory explanation of the 

 nature of the underlying metabohc upset which is responsible for en- 

 gendering this condition. Vitamin E therapy must be initiated within 

 ten to fifteen days of the first appearance of injury to pro\'ide full protec- 

 tion. Mason^"^ reported that, when therapy is started later, certain 

 seminiferous tubules may be protected, while progressive degeneration 

 occurs in others. When vitamin E is withheld too long, degeneration of 

 all of the seminiferous tubules may ensue. Accordhig to Kaunitz et al.,"^^^ 

 as small an amount of tocopherol as 0.5 to 1.0 mg., when fed on the fif- 

 teenth day of life, will considerably delay postpubertal degeneration. 

 However, Evans and Emerson-'^ noted that daily doses of 0.5 to 0.75 mg. 

 of vitamin E are required to prevent testicular degeneration in rats reared 

 for sixteen to seventeen months on vitainin E-low diets. The weight of 

 the accessory sex glands is not affected by prolonged \'itamin E deficiency ;2^^ 

 this indicates that the hormonal functions of these glands are not de- 

 stroyed.®^ 



Testicular degeneration has been noted following vitamin E deficiency 

 in many other species, in addition to the rat.^®'^"^-^^^ Strangely enough, 

 the mouse is extremely resistant to this degeneration, and several in- 

 vestigators-^^"^^^ were unable to observe any injury to this tissue after 

 deficiency periods of as long as fourteen months. However, Menschik 

 and co-workers^^® did report marked atrophy of the germinal epithelium 



»>« K. E. Mason, Am. J. AnaL, 52, 153-239 (1933). 



'"s A. Juhasz-Shaffer, Virchow's Arch, pathol. Anal. u. Physiol., 281, 3-34 (1931). 



206 A. Juhasz-Shaffer, Virchow's Arch, -pathol. Anat. u. Physiol, 286, 834-863 (1932). 



*^ A. Ringsted, Dissertation, Undersogelser over testis' histopathologived-E-avitaminose; 

 en eksperimentelmorfologisk studie. Nyt Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen, 1936; cited by 

 R. S. Harris, H. A. Mattill, and K. E. Mason, The Tocopherols, in W. H. Sebrell, Jr. and 

 R. S. Harris, The Vitamins, Vol. Ill, Acad. Press, 1954, p. 517. 



!»« C. Engel and L. H. Britschneider, Z. Vitaminforsch., 13, 58-77 (1943). 



205 K. E. Mason, Am. J. Physiol, 131, 268-280 (1940). 



2i» H. Kaunitz, A. M. Pappenheimer, and C. Schogoleff, Am,. J. Pathol, 20, 247-257 

 (1944). 



211 H. M. Evans and G. A. Emerson, /. Nutrition, 26, 555-567 (1943). 



"2 W. L. Bryan and K. E. Mason, Am. J. Physiol, 131, 263-267 (1940). 



2" M. Goettsch, /. Nutrition, 23, 513-523 (1942). 



"^ A. M. Pappenheimer, Am. J. Pathol, 18, 169-181 (1942). 



216 C. E. Tobin, Arch. Pathol, 60, 385-392 (1950). 



216 Z. Menschik, M. K. Munk, T. Rogalski, O. Rjonaszewski, and T. J. Szczesniak, 

 Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 62, 94^103 (1949). 



