QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reddy, K. Articles by Tappel, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reddy, K. Articles by Tappel, A.

Measurement and Spectral Characteristics of Fluorescent Pigments in Tissues of Rats as a Function of Dietary Polyunsaturated Fats and Vitamin E¹

Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, California 95616

The effect of dietary polyunsaturated fats and vitamin E on accumulation in rats of fluorescent ceroid and lipofuscin-like pigments was studied by fluorescence measurements of tissue lipid extracts. Rats fed 10% lard and 1% cod-liver oil diets without added vitamin E for 4 months accumulated twice the fluorescent pigments as those fed the same diet but supplemented with 45 mg vitamin E per kilogram diet. Accumulation of pigments in adipose of rats fed 15.7% corn oil or cod-liver oil diets was inversely proportional to the dietary vitamin E concentration; the adipose of animals fed cod-liver oil had approximately three times the fluorescence of adipose from animals fed corn oil. Bone marrow, heart and spleen of rats fed vitamin E-deficient cod-liver oil diets accumulated more fluorescent pigment than vitamin E-supplemented rats. The fluorescent pigments had excitation maxima at 360 to 390 nm and fluorescence maxima at 430 to 470 nm. Weight gain was proportional to dietary vitamin E, especially that of rats fed cod-liver oil diets. The data suggests that tissue extraction and fluorescence quantitation can be used successfully as an index of fluorescent ceroid and lipofuscin-like pigment accumulation.

KEY WORDS: • fluorescent pigments • vitamin E • polyunsaturated fats

¹ Supported by U. S. Public Health Service Research Grant AM 09933 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases and by a grant from the National Livestock and Meat Board.

Manuscript received 7 December 1972.