Vitamin E and vascular homeostasis: implications for atherosclerosis

Considerable epidemiologic data suggest that dietary consumption of vitamin E reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease. The precise mechanisms are not clear, but emerging data indicate that vitamin E has numerous activities that may, in part, explain its effect on vascular disease. Ln particular, vitamin E enhances the bioactivity of nitric oxide, inhibits smooth muscle proliferation, and limits platelet aggregation, One common mechanism to account for these effects of vitamin E is the inhibition of protein kinase C stimulation, In the setting of atherosclerosis, inhibition of protein kinase C by vitamin E would be expected to maintain normal vascular homeostasis and thus reduce the clinical incidence of cardiovascular disease.