Vitamin E levels in sheep tissues at various times after a single oral administration of d-alpha-tocopherol acetate

Five groups, each of 5 sheep of 40-45 kg body weight were used. One group acted as control (killed at 0 time, no vitamin E dose) while the other four groups were given a single oral dose of d-alpha-tocopherol acetate (100 mg/kg body weight) and killed 24, 48, 72 and 240 h after dosing. Samples of adrenal, adipose, heart, liver, kidney, lung, muscle, pancreas and spleen were taken from all 25 sheep and were analyzed for their vitamin E content. In the control sheep the tocopherol concentration in some tissues such as pancreas and adrenal were substantially higher than in the other tissues. Muscle and adipose tissue contained the lowest tocopherol concentrations among the various tissues. Tissues responded differently to the vitamin E dosing. Liver was characterized by a rapid accumulation of alpha-tocopherol at 24 h followed by a progressive loss. In the adrenal and lung the peak occurred 48 h after vitamin E loading. The variable pattern in tocopherol concentrations in the various sheep tissues following vitamin E dosing was considered a reflection of their different metabolic activities.