title: Effects of diet and strain on mouse serum and tissue retinoid concentrations.
abstract: The relationship between dietary vitamin A and all-trans-retinoic acid levels in serum and tissues had not been quantified. We determined the impact of dietary vitamin A on retinoid levels in serum, liver, kidney, testis, and epididymal white adipose of five mouse strains: AKR/J; BALB/cByJ; C3H/HeJ; C57BL/6J; 129S1/SvImJ. Retinoids were quantified in mice fed copious vitamin A (lab chow, ≥20 IU/g) followed by one month feeding a vitamin A-sufficient diet (4 IU/g), or after three generations of feeding a vitamin A-sufficient diet. Retinol and retinyl esters were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorbance detection. All-trans-retinoic acid was quantified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The amounts of dietary vitamin A had long-term strain-specific effects on tissue retinyl ester, retinol and all-trans-retinoic acid concentrations. Three generations of feeding a vitamin A-sufficient diet decreased all-trans-retinoic acid in most tissues of most strains, in some cases more than 60%, compared to a diet with copious vitamin A. With both diets, all-trans-retinoic acid concentrations maintained an order of liver ≈ testis > kidney > white adipose tissue ≈ serum. Neither retinol nor all-trans-retinoic acid in serum reflected all-trans-retinoic acid concentrations in tissues. Strain and tissue-specific differences in retinol and all-trans-retinoic acid altered by different amounts of dietary vitamin A could have profound effects on retinoid action. This would be the case especially with the increased all-trans-retinoic acid values associated with the amounts of vitamin A and its precursors (carotenoids) in chow diets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Obrochta
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maureen A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Napoli
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009928:Organ Specificity; D012176:Retinoids / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D012176:Retinoids