Effect of vitamin E on chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes from patients with Down's syndrome

A possible protective effect of vitamin E (DL-alpha-tocofcrol) on chromosomal damage was evaluated in lymphocytes from patients with Down's syndrome (DS) and from controls. This included the analysis of the basal and GZ chromosomal aberration frequencies in lymphocytes cultured with and without 100 mu M vitamin E. The chromosomal damage in G(2) was determined by scoring the number of chromosomal aberrations in lymphocyte cultures treated with 5 mM caffeine, 2 h before harvesting. Vitamin E treatment decreased the basal and G(2) chromosomal aberrations both in control and DS lymphocytes. In DS cells, this protective effect, expressed as a decrease in the chromosomal damage, was greater (50%) than in controls (30%). These results suggest that the increment in basal and G(2) aberrations yield in DS lymphocytes may be related to the increase in oxidative damage reported in these patients.