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Comparative Assessment of Vitamin A in lung tissues reveals differences between rodent species
Author(s) -
Schäffer Michael W,
Roy Somdutta Sinha,
Mukherjee Shyamali,
Das Salil K
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a666
Subject(s) - retinol , vitamin , guinea pig , retinyl palmitate , retinyl acetate , acyltransferase , biology , biochemistry , spleen , chemistry , endocrinology , medicine , enzyme , immunology
Vitamin A and its active metabolites are important for growth and differentiation of a variety of tissues, especially in mucosa‐associated epithelia. Target tissues can accumulate cellular retinyl ester stores to meet situations with high vitamin A demand (inflammation, prenatal period). It is stored in target tissues as retinyl esters, predominantly as retinyl palmitate and to a lesser extend as retinyl stearate. Other retinyl ester compounds can also be found in the liver. We have compared retinol and retinyl esters levels in lung, liver and plasma of commonly used research animals like mouse (C57BL6), rat (F344) and guinea pig (Hartley strain). Levels were determined using a gradient HPLC system with a diode array detector. Our results show a significant difference between species in terms of the distribution of retinol (free + ester). The levels of total retinol in lung, liver and plasma were in the following order: mouse > rat > guinea pig; rat > mouse > guinea pig; and guinea pig > rat > mouse, respectively. Results indicate that retinyl ester do not seem to play a major role as cellular storage of vitamin A for this guinea pig strain. Further studies are presented to determine, if these differences are also reflected in different activity and expression of the retinyl ester metabolizing enzymes Lecithin:Retinol Acyltransferase (LRAT) and retinyl ester hydrolase (REH). (Supported by US Army Grant W81XWH‐06‐2‐0044).