Antioxidant micronutrients improve intrinsic and UV-induced apoptosis of human lymphocytes particularly in elderly people

Objective: Aging and oxidative stress may lead to enhanced cellular damage and programmed cell death. to study the association of intrinsic apoptosis with age and the effect of antioxidant supplementation on intrinsic and UV-induced apoptosis in children, young and elderly people. Methods: The study was a 2 months, double-blind, randomized trial. Three age groups were studied: children, young adults and elderly people. A total of 274 healthy subjects were allocated to a group supplemented with moderate amounts of retinol, beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, ascorbic acid and selenium or placebo. Plasma oxidative stress parameters were detected and apoptosis of lymphocytes was evaluated with TUNEL staining. Results: At baseline, percentages of intrinsic apoptosis were 13.8% and 11.1% in elderly and young people, respectively, both significantly higher than children (6.3%). A decrease of 1.7% and 2.3% in intrinsic apoptosis of lymphocytes was found in the supplemented groups of young and elderly people compared with their control groups (all p values