Retinal in the blood and liver of the fowl in relation to sex and maturity

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Abstract
Concentrations of retinal (vitamin A1 aldehyde) in the plasma and liver of laying hens, mature cockerels, immature pullets and pullets undergoing sexual maturation have been measured. The plasma of laying hens contained about 8 [mu] of retinal/100 ml, about 10 times that found in the plasma of mature cockerels and immature pullets. In laying hens that had received large doses of retinyl palmitate 8 -4 wk. previously, the mean concentration of retinal was 18.3 [mu]/100 ml of plasma. The appearance of significant amounts of retinal in the plasma of maturing pullets coincided with hypertrophy of the oviduct, increase in concentration of plasma lipid and onset of egg-laying. Retinal was present in the livers of all types of fowl examined and the concentrations, which ranged from 0.2 to 5.8 [mu]/g wet wt., were highly correlated (r=0.79) with the concentrations of liver retinyl esters, which ranged from 92 to 1530 [mu]/g wet wt.