Abnormalities of the Eye Occurring in Young Vitamin E-Deficient Rats

Abstract

In the course of some studies with vit. E-deficient rats, unusual abnormalities of the eye were observed in the young of mothers deficient in this vitamin. Such lesions had not been encountered before in this laboratory, and have not been mentioned by other investigators to our knowledge.

Although the data are limited, it seems of importance to report them, in view of the recently published studies of Owens and Owens(1) indicating that vitamin E may play an important role in the prophylaxis of retrolental fibroplasia, a disorder which appears frequently during the early months of life in small, prematurely born infants. This condition has been recognized for many years, and has been ascribed to a variety of etio logical factors; however, Owens and Owens (2) are the first investigators to follow the progress of the disease from the initial stages of dilatation of the retinal arteries and formation of fibrous bands extending into the vitreous to the final fusing of these bands with folds of the swollen retina to form the characteristic membrane behind the lens. The membrane may be complete, causing total blindness or it may be partial, allowing some vision to be retained. Symptoms accompanying this condition noted by these and other workers (3) were eyeballs smaller than normal and hemorrhages behind the lens. Once the changes occur, they are irreversible, but Owens and Owens have been successful in preventing their appearance almost entirely in a series of premature infants by the administration of dl alpha tocopheryl acetate, starting soon after birth.

In our experiments, female rats that had had access to a vit. E-deficient diet∗ from either 7 or 14 days of age, and had been weaned at 21 days to the same deficient diet, were mated with normal males as soon as the vagina was patent and regular oestrus cycles had been established.