Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 12, 2026
A Protocol for Housing Mice in an Enriched Environment
Published on: June 8, 2015
Overweight Leads to an Increase in Vitamin E Absorption and Status in Mice
Katherine Alvarado-Ramos1, Ángela Bravo-Núñez1,2, Donato Vairo1
1Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, INSERM, C2VN, Marseille, France.
Scope:
This study investigates whether vitamin E (VE) deficiency in subjects with obesity could, at least partly, be due to a defect in VE intestinal absorption.
Methods And Results:
Mice follow either a high-fat (HF) or a control (CTL) diet for 12 weeks. The study evaluates their VE status, the expression of genes encoding proteins involved in lipid and fat-soluble vitamin intestinal absorption, and VE absorption using a γ-tocopherol-rich emulsion. HF mice have a weight (+23.0%) and an adiposity index (AI, +157.0) superior to CTL mice (p < 0.05). α-Tocopherol concentrations are higher in both plasma (+45.0%) and liver (+116.9%) of HF mice compared to CTL mice (p < 0.05). α-Tocopherol concentration in the adipose tissue of HF mice is higher than that of CTL mice after correction by the AI (+72.4%, p < 0.05). No difference is found in the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in intestinal lipid metabolism in fasting mice. After force-feeding, γ-tocopherol plasma concentration is higher in HF mice compared to CTL mice (+181.5% at 1.5 h after force-feeding, p < 0.05).
Conclusion:
HF mice display higher status and more efficient absorption of VE than CTL mice. VE absorption is thus likely not impaired in the early stages of obesity.
