title: The distribution of carotenoids in hens fed on biofortified maize is influenced by feed composition, absorption, resource allocation and storage.
abstract: Carotenoids are important dietary nutrients with health-promoting effects. The biofortification of staple foods with carotenoids provides an efficient delivery strategy but little is known about the fate and distribution of carotenoids supplied in this manner. The chicken provides a good model of human carotenoid metabolism so we supplemented the diets of laying hens using two biofortified maize varieties with distinct carotenoid profiles and compared the fate of the different carotenoids in terms of distribution in the feed, the hen's livers and the eggs. We found that after a period of depletion, pro-vitamin A (PVA) carotenoids were preferentially diverted to the liver and relatively depleted in the eggs, whereas other carotenoids were transported to the eggs even when the liver remained depleted. When retinol was included in the diet, it accumulated more in the eggs than the livers, whereas PVA carotenoids showed the opposite profile. Our data suggest that a transport nexus from the intestinal lumen to the eggs introduces bottlenecks that cause chemically-distinct classes of carotenoids to be partitioned in different ways. This nexus model will allow us to optimize animal feed and human diets to ensure that the health benefits of carotenoids are delivered in the most effective manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.|Department of Food Technology, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Díaz-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nogareda
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Angulo
authors.affiliation: Biosynthesis Group, Department of Molecular Biosciences, J. W. Goethe University, Max-v-Laue Str. 9, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sandmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida-Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida (IRBLleida), Av. Rovira Roure 80, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Portero-Otin
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida-Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida (IRBLleida), Av. Rovira Roure 80, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: José C E
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: TRM Ltd, PO Box 463, York, YO11 9FJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Twyman
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Capell
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Changfu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production and Forestry Science, ETSEA, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.|ICREA, Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Christou