title: Analysis of vitamin E metabolites in biological specimen.
abstract: Vitamin E is known as the most important lipid antioxidant and is widely used to prevent age-associated diseases. Despite increasing knowledge about human vitamin E metabolism, little is known to justify its widespread use. As meta-analyses revealed even harmful effects of high vitamin E doses, a profound understanding of vitamin E metabolism is mandatory. By recent advances in analytical methodology, new metabolites with distinct physicochemical and biological properties were discovered. This review covers current methods to analyze vitamin E metabolites in biological samples. Special emphasis is laid on analytical applications for the identification and quantification of metabolites with a modified hydroxychromanol ring or a truncated side chain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Nutrition, Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany. marc.birringer@uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Birringer
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D024505:Tocopherols / Q000378:metabolism; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E; C012552:alpha-tocopherol phosphate; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol; D024505:Tocopherols