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Developmental changes in the expression of α‐tocopherol transfer protein during the neonatal period of rat
Author(s) -
Tamai Hiroshi,
Kim HanSuk,
Arai Hiroyuki,
Inoue Keizo,
Mino Makoto
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
biofactors
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1872-8081
pISSN - 0951-6433
DOI - 10.1002/biof.5520070112
Subject(s) - period (music) , tocopherol , protein expression , chemistry , medicine , endocrinology , biochemistry , vitamin e , antioxidant , gene , physics , acoustics
Abstract It is well known that the cellular concentration of α‐tocopherol (α‐toc) is about 10‐fold greater than that of γtocopherol (γtoc) despite the ingestion of a large amount of γtoc in the diet. Recently, this discrimination of tocopherol is considered to be attributed to α‐tocopherol transfer protein (α‐TTP) which binds to α‐toc in preference to the other forms of tocopherol in the liver. In the present study, developmental changes in expression of α‐TTP after birth were investigated using rats with respect to plasma changes of tocopherols. The expression of α‐TTP in the neonatal rat liver, which was very low immediately after birth, increased steadily during the two weeks of life before weanling and reached the adult level at four weeks. During the suckling period, the plasma ratio of α‐toc to γtoc linearly increased, because plasma α‐toc which was low immediately after birth, increased rapidly during the period, while γtoc remained unchanged. The increase in the ratio seemed to correlate with the developmental expression of α‐TTP in the liver during this period.