Vitamin E is the term used for eight naturally occurring fat-soluble nutrients called tocopherols. alpha-Tocopherol is essential, has the highest biological activity and predominates in many species. In humans vitamin E is the most important lipid soluble antioxidant and deficiency may cause neurological dysfunction, myopathies and diminished erythrocyte life span. alpha-Tocopherol is absorbed via the lymphatic pathway and transported in association with chylomicrons. In plasma, alpha-tocopherol is found in all lipoprotein fractions but mostly is associated with apo B-containing lipoproteins. alpha-Tocopherol is associated with very-low-density lipoprotein when it is secreted from the liver. In the rat, about 90% of total body mass of alpha-tocopherol is recovered in the liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Most alpha-tocopherol is located in the mitochondrial fractions and in the endoplasmic reticulum, whereas little is found in cytosol and peroxisomes. New clinical evidence from heavy drinkers and from experimental work in rats suggests that alcohol may increase oxidation of alpha-tocopherol. Increased demand for vitamin E has also been observed in premature infants and patients with malabsorption, but there is little evidence that the healthy population requires supplementation of vitamin E to a well-balanced diet.

The relationship between the concentration of THC in blood and risk of being assessed impaired found in this cross-sectional study of suspected drugged drivers, supports findings from previous experimental studies of concentration related effects of THC on psychomotor performance and driving skills.

In a double-blind, block randomized study we investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid in patients with psoriasis. The experimental group received 10 g of fish oil daily containing approximately 1.8 g eicosapentaenoic acid, while the controls were given an isoenergetic amount of olive oil. We found no significant change in the clinical manifestations of psoriasis in either group after 8 weeks of treatment. In the experimental group, the amount of n-3 fatty acids in serum phospholipids was significantly increased at the end of trial as compared to pre-treatment values, whereas the level of n-6 fatty acids was decreased.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the postmortem redistribution of several drugs in a rat model and to examine if any of the pharmacological properties was related to the extent of this phenomenon. One of the following drugs: phenobarbital (phenobarbitone), acetaminophen (paracetamol), carbamazepine, codeine, verapamil, amphetamine, mianserin, trimeprazine (alimemazine) or chloroquine was administered together with nortriptyline orally to rats 90 min prior to sacrifice. Heart blood was sampled immediately before sacrifice and after 2 h postmortem, as it has previously been shown that this is sufficient time for postmortem concentration changes to occur in heart blood. Blood was also sampled from the clamped abdominal inferior vena cava (representing peripheral blood) and tissue samples were taken from lungs, myocardium, liver, kidney, thigh muscle, forebrain, and vitreous humor together with a specimen from the minced carcass. Drugs were analyzed by high performance liquid or gas chromatography. For phenobarbital, acetaminophen and carbamazepine the postmortem to antemortem blood drug concentration ratios were close to 1.0 and tissue concentrations were low. The postmortem to antemortem heart blood drug concentration ratio for chloroquine (6.9 ± 1.5) was higher than for nortriptyline (3.5 ± 0.3), and the remaining drugs (codeine, verapamil, amphetamine, mianserin, and trimeprazine) showed ratios of the same magnitude as nortriptyline. The postmortem to antemortem blood drug concentration ratios for both heart blood and blood from the vena cava and also the lung to antemortem blood drug concentration ratio were closely related to the apparent volume of distribution for the drugs studied (p < 0.001). Accordingly, an apparent volume of distribution of more than 3–4 L/kg is a good predictor that a drug is liable to undergo postmortem redistribution with significant increments in blood levels. The postmortem drug concentration in blood from vena cava was closely related to the antemortem blood level, confirming that among the postmortem samples, the peripheral blood sample was the most representative for the antemortem blood concentration.