Volume 55 (2005) Issue: 2005 No#2-3

The effect of tocopherol on serum iron content in experimental atherosclerosis

Author(s): Vučević Danijela, Pešić B, Đarmati Danica, Đorđević-Denić Gordana, Radosavljević Tatjana, Todorović Vera, Mirković S

Keywords:experimental atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemic diet, iron, rabbits, tocopherol

This paper deals with the effect of tocopherol on serum iron content in experimental atherosclerosis (ATS). Having in mind the importance of iron as a potent catalyst in some oxidative reactions, we examined the iron content in serum of Chinchilla rabbits with ATS induced by a hypercholesterolemic diet. Serum iron content was quantified by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. For this study six groups of rabbits were used: C – control group fed the usual diet for this species (n=10), O – control group fed an oil-containing diet (n=10), Ch – experimental group fed a hypercholesterolemic diet (n=10), T – experimental group received tocopherol intramuscularly (n=10), ChT – experimental group treated with cholesterol and tocopherol (n=11), and OT – experimental group which received oil and tocopherol (n=11). After two-months of treatment decrease of iron content was registrated in serum of T and OT group (p<0.05; p<0.01 respectively) compared to both control groups. In comparison with Ch group serum iron content was highly significantly (p<0.01) decreased in OT group and significantly (p<0.05) decreased in T group. Our findings indicate that tocopherol has an influence on serum iron content in rabbits suffering from ATS induced by a hypercholesterolemic diet.