Studies on vitamin E. 8. Vitamin E, ubiquinone and ubichromenol in the rabbit

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Abstract
Four groups of female rabbits were maintained on various diets in order to study the distribution of vitamin E in their tissues. After a test period of 15 weeks, 7 tissues were analysed for tocopherol, vitamin A, ubiquinone and ubichromenol. Skeletal muscle in the rabbit contained little tocopherol and became depleted to exceptionally low levels. This has been related to the muscular dystrophy that occurs in this species. In contrast with the rat uterus, the uterus in the rabbit is little affected by tocopherol. This reflects the difference in the vitamin E-deficiency syndrome in the 2 species. Vitamin E-deficient rabbits have lower concentrations of ubiquinone in heart, liver and skeletal muscle than animals on the same diet supplemented with [alpha]-tocopheryl acetate. In most tissues except nerve and brain, ubichromenol was also lower. Administration of single doses of vitamin E to deficient animals increased ubiquinone in all tissues examined except fat and also decreased ubichromenol. There appears to be a relationship between a-tocopherol, ubiquinone and ubichromenol in the tissues of the rabbit. Rabbits kept on a vitamin E-deficient diet for 15 weeks still contain large reserves of vitamin E in their adipose tissue. Deficiency states can apparently be produced by local deprivation of tocopherol from a specific tissue.