Premium
Liver retinal reductase and oxidase activities in rats exposed to low environmental temperature
Author(s) -
Sundaresan P. R.,
Therriault Donald G.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02531927
Subject(s) - retinal , retinol , endocrinology , medicine , biology , retinoic acid , reductase , retinyl acetate , biochemistry , chemistry , enzyme , vitamin , gene
The influence of low environmental temperature on retinal reductase and retinal oxidase activities in rat liver was examined after two and four weeks of cold exposure at 5 C. Liver retinal reductase decreased whereas retinal oxidase increased with time in control rats fed a retinol‐free diet, then replenished with retinyl acetate and maintained at 25 C. When rats under identical experimental conditions were exposed to 5 C, the decrease in retinal reductase and increase in retinal oxidase were both found to be greater at 5 C than at 25 C. These results support the hypothesis that increased metabolic rate from exposure of the animal to a cold environment increases the requirement for retinoic acid and decreases the storage of retinol. Even though changes in total liver retinol levels were similar in both groups, an increased utilization of retinol was indicated when the utilization of retinol was expressed as a ratio of total retinol removed from the liver to total weight gain of the animal.