CHAPTER 10. Antioxidant Defense Network and Vitamin E

Abstract

Aerobic organisms are always under threat from oxidative stress and have gained an efficient defense system against detrimental oxidative stress in the course of a long evolution. The antioxidant network is composed of multiple defense lines, in which versatile antioxidants with different functions play their respective roles. Vitamin E is one of the important members of the defense network and acts primarily as a lipophilic radical scavenging antioxidant to inhibit lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, non-antioxidant functions of vitamin E have been reported. The dynamics of the antioxidant action of vitamin E in heterogeneous media as well as in solution are described later. It must be noted that there remain many issues that should be demonstrated in order to fully understand the roles and effects of vitamin E in the maintenance of health and prevention of diseases.