Vitamin E, lipid profile, and peroxidation in hemodialysis patients

Background. Hypertriglyceridemia, lipid peroxidation, and abnormalities of the plasma fatty acid (PUFA) profile may be important risk factors for the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods. We investigated how these factors are affected by vitamin E supple mentation carried out by oral administration (clinical study 1) and dialysi s with vitamin E-modified dialyzers (clinical study 2). Results. In the HD patients, conditions of relative vitamin E deficiency we re observed [lowered vitamin E/triglyceride (TG) ratio] in the presence of high levels of thiobarbituric acid reactants (TBARs) and decreased levels o f the polyunsaturated fraction of PUFAs paired with an increased amount of monounsaturated ones (MUFA). In both studies, vitamin E supplementation sig nificantly increased the levels of vitamin E in the plasma without affectin g TG levels and provided a partial correction of TEAR levels. Of note was t he relative increase in the PUFA fraction, which gave solid pl oof of an an ti(pcr)oxidant effect of vitamin E supplementation in FID patients. Vitamin E supplementation was also observed to increase plasma. levels of reduced glutathione and NOx (NO2 + NO3). Conclusion. The results suggest that vitamin E supplementation may be an ef fective accessory therapy to combat oxidative stress-lowering lipid peroxid ation in IID patients.