VITAMIN-E SUPPLEMENTATION NORMALIZES IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION IN MURINE AIDS INDUCED BY LP-BM5 RETROVIRUS INFECTION

It is known that murine AIDS, induced by i.p. injection of LP-BM5 retr ovirus, is functionally similar to human AIDS. In this study, we tried to examine the effect of vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) supp lementation on the decrease of cellular immune functions following the development of murine AIDS. Female C57BL/6 mice, 4 weeks old, were in fected with LP-BM5 retrovirus and then fed control (50 IU/kg diet) or high vitamin E (500 or 2500 IU/kg diet) diets for 10 weeks. The spleen weight and number of splenocytes were largely increased following the development of murine AIDS. On the contrary, vitamin E supplementatio n suppressed the enlargement of spleen and the increased number of spl enocytes following retrovirus infection. The decrease of NK activity s hown in mice infected with LP-BM5 retrovirus was also partly improved by high vitamin E diet. Proliferation of splenic T lymphocytes, showin g the marked decrease following murine AIDS, was significantly restore d by higher vitamin E (2500 IU/kg diet) diet compared to control group , which was still lower in comparison with that of uninfected control group. Furthermore, vitamin E supplementation increased production of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and suppressed production of tumor necros is factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) from splenocytes. In addition, high vitami n E diet also decreased the increased ratio of CD4 and CD8 single posi tive T cells following the development of murine AIDS, which was almos t equal to the levels of uninfected control and high vitamin E groups. These results suggest that vitamin E supplementation normalizes the d ecrease of immune functions following the development of murine AIDS.