X-Message-Number: 32320
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:10:07 -0800 (PST)
From: 
Subject: synergism between tocotrienol and resveratrol

[Clinical trials with alpha tocopherol show that this form of vitamin E
offers no mortality benefit in humans. I'd wager that the results would be
different with tocotrienol, particularly in combination with
resveratrol.]

J Cell Mol Med. 2009 Oct 3. [Epub ahead of print]

Co-ordinated autophagy with resveratrol and gamma-tocotrienol confers synergetic
cardioprotection.

Lekli I, Ray D, Mukherjee S, Gurusamy N, Ahsan MK, Juhasz B, Bak I, Tosaki A, 
Gherghiceanu M, Popescu LM, Das DK. Cardiovascular Research Center, University 
of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA.

    ABSTRACT This study compared two dietary phytochemicals, grape-derived 
    resveratrol and palm oil-derived gamma-tocotrienol, either alone or in 
    combination, on the contribution of autophagy in cardioprotection during 
    ischemia and reperfusion. Sprague Dawley rats weighing between 250-300 gm 
    were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: vehicle, 
    ischemia/reperfusion (I/R), resveratrol+I/R, gamma-tocotrienol+I/R, 
    resveratrol+gamma-tocotrienol+I/R. For resveratrol treatments, the rats were
    gavaged with resveratrol [2.5 mg/kg] for 15 days while for 
    gamma-tocotrienol experiments the rats were gavaged with gamma-tocotrienol 
    [0.3 mg/kg] for 30 days. For the combined resveratrol +gamma-tocotrienol 
    experiments, the rats were gavaged with gamma-tocotrienol for 15 days, and 
    then gavaging continued with resveratrol along with gamma-tocotrienol for a 
    further period of 15 days. After 30, days, isolated perfused hearts were 
    subjected to 30 min of global ischemia followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Our 
    results showed for the first time that at least in part, the 
    cardioprotection (evidenced from the ventricular performance, myocardial 
    infarct size and cardiomyocyte apoptosis) with resveratrol and 
    gamma-toctrienol was achieved by their abilities to induce autophagy. Most 
    importantly, resveratrol and gamma-tocotrienol acted synergistically 
    providing greater degree of cardioprotection simultaneously generating 
    greater amount of survival signal through the activation of Akt-Bcl-2 
    survival pathway. Autophagy was accompanied by the activation of Beclin and 
    LC3-II as well as mTOR signaling, which were inhibited by either 3-methyl 
    adenine (3-MA) or Wortmannin. The autophagy was confirmed from the results 
    of transmission electron microscopy and light microscopy as well as with 
    confocal microscopy. It is tempting to speculate that during ischemia and 
    reperfusion autophagy along with enhanced survival signals helps to recover 
    the cells from injury.
PMID: 19799646

[Here synergism was again noted between tocotrienol and resveratrol.]

Int J Oncol. 2008 Oct;33(4):851-9.

Suppression of cell proliferation and gene expression by combinatorial synergy 
of EGCG, resveratrol and gamma-tocotrienol in estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 
breast cancer cells.

Hsieh TC, Wu JM. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New York 
Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.

    Numerous dietary phytochemicals have shown anti-breast carcinogenic 
    activities when tested in vitro; however, in most cases, the demonstrated 
    efficacy of individual phytochemicals requires doses not readily achievable 
    in vivo. Therefore, whether diets might exert translational promises and 
    benefits in clinical settings and prevention of breast cancer remain 
    unclear. Since cancer cells are endowed with complex, redundant, converging 
    and diverging pathways spanning both the genetic and metabolic networks that
    are not merely replicates of those in normal cells, it is of interest to 
    test whether a multicomponent approach involving lower, physiologically 
    relevant doses of natural dietary agents may be developed as a 
    chemopreventive strategy for breast cancer. Herein, we investigated, using 
    the estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells as a model, whether
    the combination of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), resveratrol and 
    gamma-tocotrienol at suboptimal doses elicits synergism in suppressing cell 
    proliferation, modulating gene expression, and increasing antioxidant 
    activity, as compared to each of the three phytochemicals added alone. The 
    results showed that there was a approximately 33, 50 and 58% inhibition of 
    cell proliferation by > or =50 microM EGCG, > or =25 microM resveratrol and 
    > or =10 microM gamma-tocotrienol, respectively, added as a single agent. 
    When a suboptimal dose (10 microM) of each phytochemical was used, a 
    significant additive effect in suppression of cell proliferation was 
    observed with the combination of resveratrol and gamma-tocotrienol whereas 
    the three phytochemicals added together did not produce more pronounced 
    inhibition of cell proliferation. A significant additive effect in reducing 
    cyclin D1 and bcl-2 expression was found when gamma-tocotrienol was added 
    with either EGCG or resveratrol. Functional synergism among the three 
    phytochemicals was only observed in the induction of quinone reductase NQO1.
    These results suggest that diet-based protection against breast cancer may 
    partly derive from synergy amongst dietary phytochemicals directed against 
    specific molecular targets in responsive breast cancer cells, and provide 
    support for the feasibility of the development of a diet-based combinatorial
    approach in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.
PMID: 18813800

J Neurochem. 2009 Dec 17. [Epub ahead of print]

Nanomolar vitamin E alpha-tocotrienol inhibits glutamate-induced activation of 
phospholipase A(2) and causes neuroprotection.

Khanna S, Parinandi NL, Kotha SR, Roy S, Rink C, Bibus D, Sen CK. Dorothy M. 
Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University Medical 
Center, Columbus, OH 43210.

    ABSTRACT Our previous works have elucidated that the 12-lipoxygenase 
    (12-Lox) pathway is directly implicated in glutamate-induced neural cell 
    death, and that such that toxicity is prevented by nM concentrations of the 
    natural vitamin E alpha-tocotrienol (TCT). In the current study we tested 
    the hypothesis that phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)) activity is sensitive to 
    glutamate and mobilizes arachidonic acid (AA), a substrate for 12-Lox. 
    Furthermore, we examined whether TCT regulates glutamate-inducible PLA(2) 
    activity in neural cells. Glutamate challenge induced the release of 
    [(3)H]AA from HT4 neural cells. Such response was attenuated by calcium 
    chelators (EGTA and BAPTA), cPLA(2)-specific inhibitor (AACOCF(3)) as well 
    as TCT at 250 nM. Glutamate also caused the elevation of free 
    polyunsaturated fatty acid (AA and docosahexaenoic acid) levels and 
    disappearance of PL-esterified AA in neural cells. Furthermore, glutamate 
    induced a time-dependent translocation and enhanced serine phosphorylation 
    of cPLA(2) in the cells. These effects of glutamate on fatty acid levels and
    on cPLA(2) were significantly attenuated by nM TCT. The observations that 
    AACOCF(3), transient knock-down of cPLA(2) as well as TCT significantly 
    protected against the glutamate-induced death of neural cells implicate 
    cPLA(2) as a TCT-sensitive mediator of glutamate induced neural cell death. 
    This work presents first evidence recognizing glutamate-induced changes in 
    cPLA(2) as a novel mechanism responsible for neuroprotection observed in 
    response to nanomolar concentrations of TCT.
PMID: 20028458

[Below tocotreinols, but not alpha tocopherol suppress tissue damage.]

Drug Chem Toxicol. 2009;32(4):319-25.

Effect of tocotrienols on iron-induced renal dysfunction and oxidative stress in
rats.

Gupta A, Chopra K. Pharmacology Division, University Institute of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.

    Ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA) is a well-established nephrotoxic agent. 
    This study was designed to investigate the modulatory effect of the subacute
    administration of tocotrienol-rich fraction (T3), a product from palm oil, 
    and alpha-tocopherol (T) on Fe-NTA-induced renal injury and oxidative 
    stress. Fe-NTA administration markedly increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN) 
    and serum creatinine level, which was coupled with a marked lipid 
    peroxidation, reduced activity of glutathione levels, and morphological 
    alterations in rat kidney. Pretreatment with T3 (50 mg/kg/day) and T (50 
    mg/kg/day) for 7 days before Fe-NTA administration significantly reduced the
    serum creatinine and BUN levels, reduced lipid peroxidation in a 
    significant manner, and restored levels of reduced glutathione and 
    superoxide dismutase. T3 pretreatment also attenuated the serum tumor 
    necrosis factor-alpha levels, as compared to pretreatment with T, and 
    restored normal renal morphology. These findings suggest a strong 
    correlation between iron-induced oxidative stress and renal dysfunction and 
    point toward the protective effects of T3 in Fe-NTA-induced renal injury.
PMID: 19793023

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009 Nov;107(5):587-95. Epub 2009 Aug 25.

Effects of tocotrienol-rich fraction on exercise endurance capacity and 
oxidative stress in forced swimming rats.
Lee SP, Mar GY, Ng LT. Ping Tin Enterprise Co., Ltd., Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

    The present study aimed to examine the effects of tocotrienol-rich fraction 
    (TRF) on exercise endurance and oxidative stress in forced swimming rats. 
    Rats fed on isocaloric diet were orally given 25 (TRF-25) and 50 (TRF-50) 
    mg/kg of TRF, or 25 mg/kg D-alpha-tocopherol (T-25) whilst the control group
    received only the vehicle for 28 days, followed by being forced to undergo 
    swimming endurance tests, with measurements taken of various biochemical 
    parameters, including blood glucose, lactate and urea nitrogen, glycogen, 
    total antioxidant capacity, antioxidant enzymes, thiobarbituric 
    acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and protein carbonyl. Results showed that 
    the TRF-treated animals (268.0 +/- 24.1 min for TRF-25 and 332.5 +/- 24.3 
    min for TRF-50) swam significantly longer than the control (135.5 +/- 32.9 
    min) and T-25-treated (154.1 +/- 36.4 min) animals, whereas there was no 
    difference in the performance between the T-25 and control groups. The 
    TRF-treated rats also showed significantly higher concentrations of liver 
    glycogen, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione 
    peroxidase (GPx), as well as of muscle glycogen and SOD than the control and
    the T-25-treated animals, but lower levels in blood lactate, plasma and 
    liver TBARS, and liver and muscle protein carbonyl. Taken together, these 
    results suggest that TRF is able to improve the physiological condition and 
    reduce the exercise-induced oxidative stress in forced swimming rats.
PMID: 19705143

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