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Ankara Universitesi Eczacilik Fakultesi Dergisi, vol.32, no.4, pp.243-267, 2003 (Scopus)
Antioxidant defences that protect the body from free-radical damage include the enzymes and the antioxidant vitamins. Free radicals are generated endogenously under physiological and pathological conditions but also upon exposure to exogenous challenge. Vitamin E is well accepted as nature's most effective lipid-soluble, chain-breaking antioxidant, protecting cell membranes from free-radical mediated peroxidative damage. Free-radical mediated pathology has been implicated in the development of degenerative diseases, conditions and also aging process. In animals α-tocopherol (the most active form of vitamin E) is membrane bound which was suggested to have a dual role where the phenolic nucleus acts as an antioxidant on the surface of the membrane while the side chain stabilizes the membrane with the lateral methyl groups fitting into gaps caused by cis double bonds in the fatty acids. Thus the molecular mechanism of vitamin E is mediated by the antioxidant function or its membrane stabilizing effect. This paper reviewes the current research on the protective role of vitamin E as an antioxidant.