Lack of Tocopherol in Peripheral Nerves of Vitamin E-Deficient Patients with Peripheral Neuropathy

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Abstract
Vitamin E deficiency is often associated with symptoms of a peripheral neuropathy. To evaluate whether vitamin E deficiency affects the vitamin E content of the peripheral nervous system, we measured the alpha-tocopherol content in biopsy specimens of sural nerve and adipose tissue from 5 patients with symptomatic vitamin E deficiency (2 with homozygous hypobetalipoproteinemia and 3 with familial isolated vitamin E deficiency) and 34 control patients with neurologic diseases without vitamin E deficiency. A significant reduction in tissue tocopherol content was present in the vitamin E–deficient patients, as compared with the controls, both in sural nerves (1.8±1.2 vs. 20±16 ng per microgram of cholesterol [P<0.001], or 7.7±5.4 vs. 64±44 ng per milligram of wet weight [P<0.01]) and in adipose tissue (46±43 vs. 222±111 ng per milligram of triglyceride [P<0.001]). Levels of tocopherol in adipose tissue were significantly correlated (P<0.001) with levels in peripheral nerves.