Vitamin E Plus Aspirin Slows Atherosclerosis In Mice

UniSci.com ^ | 26 Oct 2001

[sourcery]

Vitamin E Plus Aspirin Slows Atherosclerosis In Mice

Home

Search

Vitamin E Plus Aspirin Slows Atherosclerosis In Mice A combination of the anti-oxidant Vitamin E and a cox inhibitor such as aspirin significantly delays the development of atherosclerosis in mice even when their cholesterol levels remain high, according to research by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. In the study, the production of plaque in the blood vessels of the mice was lowered more than 80 percent, said Domenico Pratico, MD, research assistant professor in Penn's Department of Pharmacology and the lead investigator in the research. The findings are published this week in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. "We think this is a therapy regimen suitable for clinical trials," Pratico said. "The implication is that if you combine an antioxidant with even a low dose of aspirin, you might be able to obtain primary prevention of atherosclerosis without reducing cholesterol. This is something that might be used by individuals who cannot take cholesterol-reducing medication, and it would be a very inexpensive way to prevent such a deadly disease." Pratico and his colleagues used a group of mice that had been genetically engineered to produce high cholesterol and atherosclerotic lesions similar to human plaques, in a series of studies that examined how the mammals' cardiovascular systems would respond to Vitamin E and aspirin or similar drugs when they developed the disease. The first test group was administered a daily dose of Vitamin E that would have equaled 800 units in human subjects. "We found that Vitamin E reduced oxidative stress, which is known to be increased in atherosclerosis, to the point that it was suppressed in the mice," Pratico said. "It also reduced atherosclerosis by 65 percent. And this was accomplished without lowering the cholesterol levels." When the second test group was administered the same dose of Vitamin E along with a dose of indomethacin that would have equalled 25 milligrams in humans, the results were even more compelling: "We found the synergistic effect from Vitamin E and indomethacin resulted in an 85 percent reduction of atherosclerosis," Pratico said. "Atherosclersis is a complex disease, and high cholesterol is one of the many factors involved in its pathogenesis. Oxidative stress and inflammation are probably as important as cholesterol, if we can delay or prevent its onset with this combination of drugs," Pratico said. "We now have a scientific basis for evaluating in humans this unexpected therapy in the prevention of such a common and expensive disease." The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Pratico's collaborators in the research included: Tillman Cyrus, MD; Lina X. Tang, B.Sc., and Garret FitzGerald, MD, all of Penn's Center for Experimental Therapeutics; and Joshua Rokach, PhD, of the Claude Pepper Institute of the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FLA. - By Ellen O'Brien [Contact: Ellen O'Brien] 26-Oct-2001

Add the UniSci Daily Java News Ticker to Your Site or Desktop.
Click for a demo and more information.

 

HOME | ARCHIVES | ABOUT | PIOs | BYLINES | WHY SCIENCE | WHY UNISCI | PROSTATE | POLIO

Please direct website technical problems or questions to webmaster@unisci.com.

Copyright © 1995-2001 UniSci. All rights reserved.

 

[sourcery]

heads up

[Cicero]

Interesting. There are some mixed opinions about Vitamin E, but I'm certainly persuaded that a maintenence dose of aspirin daily (around 80 mg) is good as a preventative. That's one children's aspirin daily, or you can find it in 81 mg tablets with a coating.

[G.Mason]

Bummer!

All my mieces died last year.

[jerod]

This means that mice will be able to live a long and full life. Yahoo!

[Free Vulcan]

90% of the disease we see today in America is due primarily to bad nutrition. I have little doubt of the connection between intake of Vitamin E and reducing arthritis.

[Romulus]

Bump.

[ruoflaw]

my husband's Cardiologist advised my husband to take vitamins C and E...and he does take aspirin along with three other prescription drugs for his heart...He told us two years ago that my husband needed to take these antioxidants...he also advised him not to buy them from a "chain" vitamin store...because he believed the quality was much better in a locally owned nutritional supplement stores. My husband is doing very well now. Thanks for sharing great advice!

[Reelect President Dubya]

I have been taking 1000 mg of Vitamin E and an aspirin since I turned 40 ten years ago. Cool.

[msuMD]

I'd take this study with a grain of salt. There has been many studies that have shown no benefit of Vit E and heart disease. There is however benefit from aspirin.

[S.O.S121.500]

Bookbump

[spald]

Here’s a good, easily readable story about homocysteine and the effects as a catalyst in LDL adhesion to the artery walls. Daily recommended dosages are 800mcg folic acid, 400mcg B12 and 25mg B6 to oxidize the homosteine and it is harmlessly excreted out of the body.

Hubby started six months ago with a homocysteine level of 14.4 (normal is 5.0 to 8.9). After a half year of daily vitamin regimen, homocysteine level now 5.1 , near the baseline. Our cardiologist says they know as much today about homocysteine as they did about cholesterol thirty years ago.

[ruoflaw]

well, don't take it then! Our Cardiologist runs the Cardiology unit for one of the hospitals in Fort Wayne,Ind

[boothead]

Vitamin E Plus Aspirin Slows Atherosclerosis In Mice

Fed mine Vitamin E and Aspirin, now him and cat fight all the time. Got any ideas for the cat????????

[spald]

May I ask, what is your opinion on homocysteine?

[msuMD]

I never said don't take it. All I said was that most of the research has shown that vit E is ineffective against coronary artery disease. In the early 1990's vitamin E( which is an antioxidant)was thought to prevent the propagation of free radicals and hence prevent heart disease. Several big prospective studies where done which showed that vitamin E doesn't reduce heart disease. They include: 1. "Vitamin E had no effect on the risk of cardiovascular death, MI and stroke in patients at high risk for cardiovascular events but without LV dysfunction or HF" Evidence-based Cardiovascular Medicine May 2001 2."Antioxidants for vascular disease. " - Med Clin North Am - 2000 Jan; 84(1): 239-49 3. "Vitamin E Supplementation and Cardiovascular Events " N Engl J Med 2000; 342:154-160, Jan 20, 2000. There is no harm in using Vitamin E. So don't be mad at me, I'm only providing the medical evidence that so far it hasn't been shown to reduce the incidence of heart disease.

[msuMD]

You explained it quite well. Not alot is known about homocysteine. If you would like to read a review article about it, there is one in the New England Journal of Medicine: Homocysteine and Atherothrombosis by George N. Welch, M.D et al Volume 338:1042-1050 April 9, 1998 Number 15 . Generally it is treated by folic acid alone but Vit B6 and B12 can be used as well. Be careful with B12, many people have difficulty absorbing it in the GI tract so don't use it as the sole treatment. Anyone with an elevated homocysteine level should be treated. The question yet to be answered is if it's effective against people with normal homocysteine levels to reduce heart disease.

[sourcery]

Rebuttal

[msuMD]

Here is several problems with your source. First, it is from a website that promotes herbs/vitamins and claims that these substances "could" or "may" be of benefit. You will notice that they do not say there is evidence that any of their products "do" anything. Secondly, the site is from a book, NOT a study and they quote sources either incorrectly or the sources are from journals that carry little crediblity in the medical community. Here is an example. In the title of the article it states it got this info from the "The National Academy of Sciences". I went to this website and quickly found what they have to say about Vitamin E, here is the passage........(Based on the above equation for dietary supplements, an individual would be at the UL when consuming 1,500 IU of RRR-alpha-tocopherol (also labeled "natural source" vitamin E or d-alpha-tocopherol) or RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate or RRR-alpha -tocopheryl succinate (1,000 mg/0.67) or 1,100 IU of all rac-alpha-tocopherol (also labeled "synthetic" vitamin E, all racemic-alpha-tocopherol, or dl-alpha-tocopherol) or all rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate or all rac-alpha tocopheryl succinate (1,000/0.9). Is vitamin E deficiency seen in the United States and Canada? Overt vitamin E deficiency is rare in the United Sates and Canada. It is seen only in individuals unable to absorb the vitamin due to malabsorption of fat or with rare inherited abnormalities that prevent the maintenance of normal blood concentrations. Thus, current dietary patterns appear to provide sufficient vitamin E to prevent deficiency symptoms such as peripheral neuropathy. Will vitamin E intakes greater than the RDA decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease? The hypothesis oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species play a role in heart disease rests on a solid basic scientific foundation and is strongly supported by studies in animal models. More than 20 studies in several different animal models (nonhuman primates, rabbits, hamsters, and mice) have consistently shown inhibition of the rate of lesion progression, even in the face of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. Also, at the clinical level, a variety of correlational studies and studies of biochemical markers are consistent with the hypothesis. However, only four published, large-scale, randomized, double-blind clinical intervention studies have specifically tested the ability of vitamin E to prevent heart disease. One of these, the Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study (CHAOS) in Great Britain, supplemented heart disease patients with 400 or 800 IU (268 or 567 mg)/day of alpha-tocopherol. The study found a decrease in total myocardial infractions in the supplemented groups. The other three did not find a benefit of vitamin E supplementation on cardiovascular disease. The first trial, the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study, supplemented a group of high-risk Finnish cigarette smokers with 50 mg/day of alpha-tocopherol. The second trial, the GISSI Prevenzione Study in Italy supplemented cardiovascular disease patients with 300 mg/day alpha-tocopherol. Another trial, the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) Study in 19 countries, supplemented heart disease patients with 400 IU (268 mg)/day of alpha-tocopherol. Thus, as of this date there are insufficient data on which to base a recommendation of supplemental vitamin E as a preventative for cardiovascular disease in the general population.) Read the last sentence of the above passage again. Here is the link from the National Academy of Sciences official website: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/IOM/iomhome.nsf/18ace18eb695f74c85256691007102f5/edccae87e479d741852568bd00781695?OpenDocument. I hope this helps to clear up the confusion.

[spald]

thank you msuMD for your kind response.