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Greetings, Vitamin E is an antioxidant and PD is believed to be, in part, the result of oxidative stress in the nigra, HOWEVER its value is of some question. The so called datatop study of selegeline combined with vitamin e demonstraited little if any benefit of the vitamin e in delaying the progression of PD. Since at reasonable dosages vitamin e is probably non-toxic (less than 2000 units/day, higher units could be associated with toxicity to the heart) why not take it if you think it might help. I would be interested in a study of the value of aspirin in PD. (DON'T RUN OUT AND TAKE ASPIRIN. CLINICAL TRIALS ARE NOT CONDUCTED OVER THE NET!) I mention aspirin because PD may also involve a class of cells in the brain called microglial cells. These cells have been noted to be engulfing damaged dopaminergic cells in the nigra (microglia are derived from the immune system). When they "ingest" this sort of material they try to kill it by generating several reactive oxygen species including hydrogen peroxide, singlet oxygen, superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. Unfortunatly, these chemicals are perhaps among the very ones responsible for putting the nigra under the oxidative stress in the first place. The point is that when another class of cells related immunologically to microglia make these same reactive oxygen species in our joints, we call the condition arthritis. Therefore my interest in aspirin. We are about to publish a paper describing the possibility that when microglia ingest neuromelanin during their activity in the damaged nigra, the melanin actually increases the levels of peroxide. Sounds like a double-edged sword. Jeff Tosk