α‐Tocopherol Affects Androgen Metabolism in Male Rat

A bstract : The Alpha‐Tocopherol Beta‐Carotene Cancer Prevention Study has provided the first evidence implicating vitamin E in hormone synthesis. The effect of vitamin E on stereoidogenesis in testes and adrenal glands was assessed in growing rats using Affymetrix gene‐chip technology. Dietary supplementation of rats with vitamin E (60 mg/kg feed) for a period of 429 days caused a significant repression of genes encoding for proteins centrally involved in the uptake (low‐density lipoprotein receptor) and de novo synthesis (for example, 7‐dehydrocholesterol reductase, 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A synthase, 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐coenzyme A reductase, isopentenyl‐diphosphate delta‐isomerase, and farnesyl pyrophosphate synthetase) of cholesterol, the precursor of all steroid hormones. The present investigation indicates that dietary vitamin E may induce changes in stereoidogenesis by affecting cholesterol homeostasis.