Effects of aspirin and related drugs in vitamin E-deficient rats.

Evidence from the literature indicates that in vitamin E-deficient animals prostaglandin (PG) synthesis in platelets is enhanced while it is decreased in the muscle and testis. In the present study the effects of aspirin, a known inhibitor of PG biosynthesis, on vitamin E deficiency signs in the rat were investigated. Administration of aspirin to vitamin E-deficient rats had no protective effect on fetal mortality, incisor depigmentation, body weight gain or red blood cell peroxidative hemolysis. Aspirin prevented the anemia and thrombocythemia observed in vitamin E-deficient rats. Aspirin, salicylic acid and a carbazole prostaglandin inhibitor exacerbated testis degeneration in vitamin E-deficient animals. Addition of aspirin to the diet more than doubled the vitamin E requirement for reversal of necrotizing myopathy.