THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF DIETARY ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION ON PLATELET-AGGREGATION AND CYCLOSPORINE TREATMENT IN HEART-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

To determine whether dietary antioxidant supplementation can reduce pl atelet reactivity in heart transplant recipients, 20 patients were pro spectively randomized to receive either 500 IU vitamin E orally per da y in the form of acetate for 2 months or no vitamin E. Blood creatinin e (P=0.01) and lymphocyte count (P=0.009) significantly decreased only in supplemented patients, whereas the cyclosporine blood level was no t modified. Platelet aggregation was stable in control patients but si gnificantly decreased in supplemented patients in response to either t hrombin (from 8.3+/-0.9% of maximum aggregation to 3.7+/-0.7, P=0.001) or ADP (secondary wave: from 44.7+/-5.9% to 33.2+/-7.0, P=0.02). Thus antioxidant supplementation tended to improve immunosuppression (by r educing lymphocyte count), to reduce cyclosporine nephrotoxicity, and to decrease the high throm botic risk associated with heart transplant ation.