The action of vitamin E on the ageing of connective tissues in the mouse.

In an attempt to determine the relevance of the free radical theory of ageing to age changes discernible in connective tissue parameters, a small colony of C3H/He and LAF1 mice was set up, with sample culled at intervals throughout the lifespan to provide experimental samples. To half of the stock a dietary supplement of vitamin E, a naturally occurring antioxidant, was given at a level of 2500 mg/kg of diet. Tests were carried out on culled samples to provide data on the total collagen levels of bone and skin, on thermal shrinkage temperature and maximal degree of shrinkage of tendon fibres, and on the recovery of skin from stress. Vitamin E was found to have no effect on any of the parameters measured on C3H/He mice but to exert an influence on the parameters of LAF1 mice around the age of 10 months. This influence, however, is not regarded as being relevant to the ageing of the tissues and thus no evidence can be derived for a free-radical mechanism playing a role in the ageing of connective tissues.