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BALB/c and C57BL/6 Mice Develop Distinct Levels of Tissue Retinol Depending on Growth Stage and Dietary Vitamin A Exposure
Author(s) -
Wei ChengHsin,
Li Yaqi,
Ross A Catharine
Publication year - 2015
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.29.1_supplement.32.4
Subject(s) - retinol , weaning , spleen , vitamin , medicine , endocrinology , biology , vitamin a deficiency , retinyl acetate , physiology , andrology
BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice are two of the most commonly used inbred strains for immunology and cancer research; however, there is no comprehensive study on their tissue response to dietary vitamin A (VA) from birth to adult age. The objective of this study was to investigate two factors, age and dietary VA exposure over a range from VA‐deficient (VAD), marginal (VAM), adequate (VAA), to supplemented (VAS) diet, on tissue retinol levels. AIN‐93 VAM diet was fed to BALB/c and C57BL/6 dams from pregnancy until their pups were weaned on postnatal day (P) 21. After weaning pups were randomly assigned to one of the 4 diet groups above. Plasma and tissues were collected at P0, P14, 4 wk, and 8 wk of age and total retinoid concentrations were determined by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC). For liver and lung, neonates accumulated retinol in tissues from birth to P14, even though all were fed by VAM dams. After weaning, plasma retinol was elevated only in the VAS groups of both strains. Liver and lung total retinol was significantly higher at 4 wk and higher still at 8 wk in both BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice fed VAA or VAS diet. Other tissues including spleen, brown adipose tissue (BAT), and small intestine were capable of storing high levels of total retinol under VAS condition. Overall, liver and lung accumulated VA dose‐dependently: VAD < VAM < VAA < VAS. Interestingly, both strains of mice accumulated VA even when fed a VAM diet. These result help to explain the observations that mice are difficult to deplete of retinol even when fed a VAD diet, and show that several organs accumulate high levels of VA in an age‐ and dose‐dependent manner.