538 THE TOCOPHEROLS 



can be produced by many other compounds and can be prevented by other 

 antioxidants, a-tocopherol is unquestionably a most effective natural 

 intracellular antioxidant. 



It is generally accepted that vitamin E deficiency does not influence the 

 peripheral blood picture or hematopoietic functions. However, Dinning^-^ 

 has recently reported a pronounced leucocytosis in low-E rabbits, respond- 

 ing to tocopherol therapy, which he concedes may reflect leucocytic infiltra- 

 tion of dystrophic muscle. 



7. Other Manifestations 

 a. Adipose Tissue 



Prolonged vitamin E deficiency in rats results in considerable diminution 

 in body fat, accounting in part for the plateau in body weight occurring 

 during early adulthood and for the rather emaciated appearance of rats 

 showing advanced stages of paresis. Menschik et alP- ^-^ have studied this 

 phenomenon in mice, reporting that adipose tissue develops normally during 

 early life but that after about 9 months of deficiency little or no body fat 

 is evident — except for the brown glandular fat of the interscapular region 

 which is often increased in amount and of deeper brown color than in con- 

 trol mice. They were led to conclude that vitamin E deficiency interferes 

 w'ith the ability to deposit dietary fats as neutral fats, related perhaps to 

 the fact that both ingested and stored fat undergo abnormal or abortive 

 metabolic changes, 



A strikingly different reaction occurs in the adipose tissues of the rat 

 when low-E diets contain high levels (about 20%) of cod liver oiP" or 

 highly unsaturated fractions of this oil,^^'' or methyl esters of linseed, corn, 

 or soybean oils.^^ Under such circumstances there is a brownish discolora- 

 tion of the subcutaneous and intraperitoneal adipose tissue. Peroxides are 

 usually demonstrable either by chemicaP^ or histochemicaP-^-^^" methods. 

 Microscopically,'"' '" the adipose tissue first appears studded with yellow- 

 ish-brown islets. The latter represent clusters of fat cells in various stages 

 of development in which small fat globules and the peripheral portions of 

 larger fat vacuoles are composed of acid-fast pigment; pigment-laden mac- 

 rophages are also present in increased numbers. At later stages these cells, 

 and possibly other connective elements, participate in complex foreign- 



126 J. S. Dinning, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 79, 231 (1952). 



126 Z. Menschik, Edinburgh Med. J. 51, 486 (1944). 



127 H. Granados, K. E. Mason, and H. Dam, Acta. Pathol. }ficmbiol. Scand. 24, 86 

 (1947). 



128 H. Granados and H. Dam, Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. 27, 591 (1950). 



129 J. Glavind, H. Granados, S. Hartmann, and H. Dam, E.rperientia 5, 84 (1949). 



130 H. Dam, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Set. 52, 194 (1949). 



