title: Vitamin K status in human tissues: tissue-specific accumulation of phylloquinone and menaquinone-4.
abstract: We measured the vitamin K status in postmortem human tissues (brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas) to see if there is a tissue-specific distribution pattern. Phylloquinone (K1) was recovered in all tissues with relatively high levels in liver, heart and pancreas (medians, 10.6 (4.8), 9.3 (4.2), 28.4 (12.8) pmol(ng)/g wet weight tissue); low levels (< 2 pmol/g) were found in brain, kidney and lung. Menaquinone-4 (MK-4) was recovered from most of the tissues; its levels exceeded the K1 levels in brain and kidney (median, 2.8 ng/g) and equalled K1 in pancreas. Liver, heart and lung were low in MK-4. The higher menaquinones, MK-6-11, were recovered in the liver samples (n 6), traces of MK-6-9 were found in some of the heart and pancreas samples. The results show that in man there are tissue-specific, vitamin-K distribution patterns comparable to those in the rat. Furthermore, the accumulation of vitamin K in heart, brain and pancreas suggests a hitherto unrecognized physiological function of this vitamin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Thijssen
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Drittij-Reijnders
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D008168:Lung / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010179:Pancreas / Q000737:chemistry; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014812:Vitamin K / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis*; D010837:Vitamin K 1 / Q000032:analysis*; D024482:Vitamin K 2 / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D024482:Vitamin K 2; D014812:Vitamin K; C030814:menatetrenone; D010837:Vitamin K 1