Lester Packer and Vitamin E: Editorial

Abstract

The inspiring ideas of Professor Lester Packer (1929-2018) substantially enriched our understanding of biological systems. One of the most important contributions of Lester is the role of vitamin E in biological membranes. Lester started early in the 1970s with the development and use of a preparatory technique for electron microscopy of biological membranes, the "freeze fracture." This made it possible to detect inner and outer membranes of mitochondria as well as associated compounds in other biological organelles. Lester also considered the effect of tocols on entire animals and thereby initiated the field of exercise biology. An important finding was the loss of vitamin E and of muscle mitochondria after exhaustive exercise. In the 1990s, he and his group worked on the intermembrane exchange and membrane stabilization by tocols. They also determined the specific activities of various tocols including tocotrienols. In the later years they embarked on the role of vitamin E in redox signaling and gene expression, topics fundamental to our understanding of the role of vitamin E in membranes and in general. Lester, his group, and international guests tried to answer the still open question how vitamin E protects biomembranes. The numerous possibilities they offered will help to find a final solution. Lester always engaged himself at the forefront of science and in scientific exchange on meetings and in societies. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 39, 771-776.

Keywords: biomembrane; freeze etching; gene expression; intermembrane trafficking; signaling; specific activity; tocols.