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Rate of Metabolism of Retinol in Retinoic Acid-Maintained Rats after a Single Dose of Radioactive Retinol¹

Lipids Laboratory, Research Institute, St. Joseph Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604

The half-life and metabolism of vitamin A were determined in a group of vitamin A-deficient retinoic acid supplemented rats after a single dose of 340 µg of [6,7-¹⁴C₂]-retinol. The total daily urinary radioactivity, plotted semilogarithmically as a function of days after injection, revealed three pools for retinol and/or metabolites in the rat: (1) a rapidly declining pool with a half-life of 0.75 day; (2) a slowly declining pool with a constant rate of decrease and (3) a pool with a half-life of 13 days which begins at approximately 6 weeks after dose. The total daily fecal radioactivity also indicated three pools with half-lives of 2, 28.5 and 11.5 days. The effect of retinoic acid feeding was observed on the fifth day after supplementation, as indicated by a decrease in the total daily urinary radioactivity. Thus, retinoic acid is probably in the metabolic pathway of retinol. The half-life and metabolism time of liver vitamin A in these rats were determined as 7 and 10 days, respectively. The specific activities of liver retinyl esters and retinol determined at different intervals after dose indicated continuous mixing of radioactive retinol with a pool of endogenous retinol. Blood retinol levels indicated normal values at 1 week after dose. However, they decreased at 2 weeks after dose and remained constant until the sixth week. The specific activity of blood retinol did not change indicating rapid equilibration after initial mixing and no further dilution from endogenous source.

KEY WORDS: • retinol • vitamin A metabolism

¹ Supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Grant AM 13557 from the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases.

Manuscript received 19 January 1976.