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

Simultaneous HPLC analysis of alpha-tocopherol and cholesterol in fresh pig meat

A method has been developed for simultaneously determining alpha-tocopherol and cholesterol in fresh pig meat by HPLC. It allows a reduction in the number of analyses and brings savings in time and materials. The unsaponifiable fraction is extracted following the modified method of Liu et al. (Liu, Q.; Scheller, K. K.; Schaefer, D. M. Technical note: A simplified procedure for vitamin E determination in beef muscle. J. Anim. Sci. 1996, 74, 2406-2410). The modifications introduced are the use of nitrogen atmosphere during the extraction, the addition of an antioxidant in the organic extraction phase, and the use of alpha-tocopherol itself as an internal standard. There is then a chromatographic analysis which allows the separation of the two compounds in question. To identify and quantify, two different detectors are used in series: the first is a fluorescence detector (alpha-tocopherol), and the second is a light-scattering detector (cholesterol). The technique shows sufficient sensitivity to determine the normal levels of alpha-tocopherol and cholesterol in meat, with recovery percentages of 78% and 97%, respectively. The average amount of alpha-tocopherol and cholesterol in samples from pig Longissimus dorsi muscle analyzed using this method is 1.8 and 620 mg/kg of fresh meat, respectively.

Chromatographic analysis of alpha-tocopherol and related compounds in various matrices

Tocopherols and tocotrienols (Vitamin E) are part of a group of "minor components" of main interest, present in the unsaponifiable fraction of many samples. Their importance in biological, metabolical and nutritional studies makes determination of tocopherols and related compounds of major interest. Present work critically reviews the different ways to perform sample pre-treatment and analysis of these compounds, related to the matrices, other analytes to be measured, sensitivity, and simplicity. The review includes well referenced tables that provide in-depth summaries of methodology for the chromatographic analysis of alpha-tocopherol and related compounds in foods, pharmaceuticals, plants, animal tissues and other matrices.

Simplified method for vitamin E determination in rat adipose tissue and mammary glands by high-performance liquid chromatography

A method for vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) measurement in rat adipose tissue and mammary gland has been developed and validated. Tissues were homogenized in ethanol-water (1:1) and extracted with n-hexane. Vitamin K1 was used as internal standard. Separation was performed by HPLC with methanol-water (96.5:3.5) as eluent in a Nucleosil C18 column (15 x 0.46 cm) at 40 degrees C. Detection was by fluorescence with excitation at 295 nm and emission at 350 nm for vitamin E and at 330 and 440 nm for vitamin K1. Standards and tissue extracts were checked for linearity giving correlation coefficients over 0.99 in a range of concentrations from 0.56 to 4.51 nmol/g in adipose tissue and from 2.18 to 17.4 nmol/g in mammary gland tissue. Intra-assay precision (R.S.D.) varied between 3 and 4%, whereas inter-assay precision was between 8 and 9%. Recoveries ranged between 95 +/- 3% and 98 +/- 11% for the two tissues, respectively. Vitamin E was measured in rats that had previously received one oral dose of this vitamin. Whereas vitamin E content in adipose tissue did not differ between late-pregnant and virgin rats, it was significantly higher in mammary gland of pregnant rats, and this difference could be related to the enhanced lipoprotein lipase activity in this group.