Liquid chromatographic determination of carotenes in cattle serum and liver

A liquid chromatographic (L.C.) method is described for the determination of carotenes in cattle serum and liver. Serum samples were extracted with petroleum ether following precipitation of proteins with ethanol. Liver samples were extracted with hexane following saponification. Final L.C. analysis was carried out on a Altex 5 microns ultrasphere column with a solvent systems of acetonitrile: chloroform (92:8 v/v) at 2 ml/minute. The only components in serum of cattle were alpha- and beta-carotene. The method required 500 microliters of serum and 25 minutes of elution time per sample. One hundred and eleven samples of blood serum and liver of cattle were analyzed simultaneously by the L.C. and a colorimetric method. The correlation of the concentration of carotenoids (colorimetric method) with carotenes (L.C.) were calculated and given in the text.