Therapeutic efficacy of vitamin E and selenium in treating hemolytic anemia of owl monkeys (Aotus trivirgatus).

The roles played by vitamin E and by selenium in the anemia of owl monkeys were studied by injecting a mixture of the two antioxidants in 17 anemic monkeys. The result was an increase in mean hemoglobin concentration from 8.6 +/- 2.2 to 11.9 +/- 2.5 g/dl; in 1o of these monkeys with typically elevated numbers of circulating nucleated erythrocytes, the mean number of such cells per 10(2) leukocytes declined from 50.1 +/- 49.9 to 0.6 +/- 1.2. Injections of vitamin E alone in eight monkeys were less consistently effective; selenium administered alone to nine monkeys had no therapeutic effect. Neither anemic nor normal owl monkeys were deficient in serum vitamin E, plasma selenium, erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase or other related erythrocyte enzymes. Oral administration of vitamin E brought about no increase in serum levels of the vitamin, but hemolysis of erythrocytes in dialuric acid decreased from 18.6 +/- 15.8% to 1.0 +/- 0.03%. Selenium therapy brought about increased plasma selenium in two of three experiments, but glutathione peroxidase, which is selenium dependent, did not increase.