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Plasma Carotenoids of Monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Saimiri sciureus) Fed a Nonpurified Diet¹

D. Max Snodderly^*,, Mark D. Russett^**, Richard I. Land^* and Norman I. Krinsky^**

^* Neuroscience Unit, Eye Research Institute of Retina Foundation, Boston, MA 02114 ^** Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111 Department of Ophthalmology (Neuroscience), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115

The major carotenoid pigments in the plasma and in a common, nonpurified diet of two species of monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Saimiri sciureus) were measured. The xanthophylls, lutein, zeaxanthin, -cryptoxanthin, and ß-cryptoxanthin, were the principal carotenoids in both the diet and the plasma. Lutein and zeaxanthin were abundant in the all-trans, the 9-cis, and the 13-cis geometrical isomers in the diet, but the 9-cis form was rarely measurable in plasma. However, the 13-cis isomers of lutein and zeaxanthin were found in higher proportions in plasma than in the diet. For both the monohydroxy-xanthophylls, -cryptoxanthin and ß-cryptoxanthin, and the dihydroxy-xanthophylls, lutein and zeaxanthin, the ß,ß structural isomer (ß-cryptoxanthin or zeaxanthin) is less abundant than the ß, isomer in plasma than in the diet. These results indicate substantial specificity in the absorption or retention of closely related carotenoid isomers in primates. The proportions of different geometrical isomers of lutein and zeaxanthin in the plasma of both species of monkeys were nearly identical and were similar to human values. The hydrocarbon carotenoids, -carotene, ß-carotene and lycopene were usually undetectable in monkey plasma. The monkeys appear to be like humans in their utilization of lutein and zeaxanthin but distinctly different in some other aspects of carotenoid utilization.

KEY WORDS: • lipids • cis-trans isomers • macular pigment • Macaca fascicularis • Saimiri sciureus

¹ Supported by National Institutes of Health grant EY04911.

Manuscript received 22 March 1990. Revision accepted 13 July 1990.

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