Scientists discovered vitamin E (α-tocopherol) in 1922, but its functions remain a mystery.
ARRA-funded nutritionist Maret Traber, right, and biochemist Debbie Mustacich work in OSU's Linus Pauling Institute on vitamin E function.
They still do not understand how this anti-oxidant works in the body. Although it is required for reproduction, we do not know why. This problem is difficult to study because vitamin E deficient experimental animals do not produce embryonic tissues due to failed implantation.
Oregon State University nutritionist Maret Traber leads a research team that is studying the consequences of vitamin E deficiency in a novel animal model, the zebrafish. These popular aquarium fish are small and have transparent embryos; moreover, their genes can be manipulated readily. Since these animals lay eggs, implantation is unnecessary, so vitamin E molecular function can be studied. Traber and her team have successfully produced the first vitamin E deficient diet for zebrafish, thus enabling researchers to directly observe consequences for cell development.
Zebrafish share other related processes with humans, such as production of a protein known as ttp, which is necessary for directing vitamin E in cells, and a need for vitamin C, another anti-oxidant.
The researchers have already shown that vitamin E deficient embryos exhibit severe developmental malformations, which establishes for the first time that α-tocopherol is required for healthy fetal development. The aims of the project are to define the role of vitamin E in regulating factors that lead to cell death and to define the role of the ttp gene in embryonic development.
See all ARRA projects funded by the National Institutes of Health in Oregon.
* Note: Studies are supported in part, by the Aquatic Biomedical Models Facility Core of the Environmental Health Sciences Center, Oregon State University, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30 ES000210) and by this ARRA grant from The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (HD062109), National Institutes of Health.