Quantitative Evaluation of the Antioxidant Effect of Biomembrane Lipids
in the Presence of Vitamin E
Abstract
In this report, oxidation of biomembrane lipids, phospholipid (LH) and
cholesterol (ChH), were examined experimentally in the presence of
vitamin E (VEH) by using a liposome system, which is used widely as a
biomembrane model. A kinetic model was constructed by taking into
account mechanisms of anti-oxidation and pro-oxidation by VEH to the
co-oxidation mechanisms of biomembrane lipids reported previously. The
model quantitatively described the oxidation behavior in the liposome
system under various VEH addition conditions. The model also predicted
the oxidation behavior in vivo under various oral ingestion conditions
of VEH. The results suggest that ChH oxidation, which causes various
diseases, can be suppressed effectively by taking a certain amount of
VEH once a day to avoid a reduction in the VEH concentration present in
the biomembrane. The proposed kinetic approach should be a useful tool
for characterizing invisible and complicated reaction systems, such as
biomembrane oxidation.