Rapid determination of alpha-tocopherol in muscle and adipose tissues of pork

A fast, sensitive and reproducible method for the analysis of alpha-tocopherol in pork tissues is presented. It combines saponification of the tissue and alpha-tocopherol extraction in a single vessel, followed by HPLC separation and fluorescence detection. Added alpha-tocopherol was recovered quantitatively. The reduction of lipid peroxides with potassium iodide before the saponification step did not alter the amounts of alpha-tocopherol detected. Membrane-bound alpha-tocopherol was not oxidized by lipid peroxides during the procedure. The coefficient of variation of alpha-tocopherol analysed using this method was +/- 4.2% for muscle and +/- 2.5% for adipose tissues.