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Journal of Nutrition Vol. 104 No. 12 December 1974, pp. 1662-1668
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The "Partial" Vitamin A Function of {alpha}-Retinol1

W. D. Sneider, G. Chi Rosso, Adrianne E. Rogers, George Wolf, J. E. Dowling and M. J. Callahan

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Alpha-retinol, a double-bond isomer of retinol, when given to vitamin A-deficient rats in large doses as {alpha}-retinyl acetate either intraperitoneally (160 µg weekly) or orally (50 µg daily), supported weight gain for 9–18 days and 9 days, respectively. Then weight loss occurred, and the animals died or were killed after 4 weeks. Their testes had atrophied; they had moderate to marked degeneration of the rod and cone layer of the retina; they displayed minimal corneal changes and variable tracheal squamous metaplasia. Electroretinography showed that the rats given {alpha}-retinyl acetate were severely night blind and had lost about 75% of their rhodopsin. These data suggest that either {alpha}-retinol could spare retinol by performing some but not all vital functions of the vitamin, or that a transport mechanism for {alpha}-retinol was lacking so that insufficient amounts reached the tissues.

KEY WORDS: • {alpha}-retinol • retinol • vitamin A deficiency • testes • rhodopsin • blindness

1 These studies were supported in part by National Cancer Institute contract number 69-2083 and by National Institutes of Health grant number AM-8732. This is publication number 2459 from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, M.I.T.

Manuscript received 17 June 1974.




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