STORAGE OF CAROTENOIDS AND OF VITAMINS A 513 



mus/^^ muscle, ^^^ and bile."^'^^* Cabrera and De Jesus^^^ found that the 

 meat from cattle contained more carotene than did carabao meat. Both 

 species have the same ability to absorb carotene from feeds, but the liver of 

 the carabao is more efficient in converting the pigment into colorless vita- 

 min A. Piccolo and Lieben^" gave the name "hemolutein" to the "new" 

 substance which they isolated, in 1866, from the corpus luteum of cattle. 



One of the most interesting sites in which carotenoids are deposited is 

 l)eef fat.®^®'^^^-^*^ According to Poulsson,^^^ the pro\'itamin A deposits are 

 greater in cows during the reproductive period than in steers. Since xan- 

 thophylls are present in much greater proportion in cow and sheep feces 

 than is carotene,^" it is postulated that the preferential accumulation of . 

 carotenes in the tissues and milk results from the failure to absorb xantho- 

 phylls from the gastrointestinal tract. However, the absorption of caro- 

 tene from the gastrointestinal tract of cows on green pasturage is also not 

 complete. Moore^^* cited Whitnah et al.,^^^ who reported a carotene content 

 of o\'er 100 Mg/g- in the feces of the cow. Moore attributed this high 

 figure to the adventitious presence of yellow chromogens which were not 

 carotene. When these chromogens were removed from feces of cattle on 

 summer pasture by filtration of the petroleum ether extract through a col- 

 umn of dicalcium phosphate, the figures for carotene ranged from 72.5 to 

 96.8 Mg-/g- of material. 



Carotene accumulates in the body fat with increasing age. As much as 

 2 mg. of a- and /S-carotene were obtained by Zechmeister and Tuzson^^^ 

 from 1 kg. of cow fat. The highest concentration of /3-carotene in the cow 

 occurs in the corpus luteum and corpus rubrum, where figures as high as 6 

 mg. and 120 mg./lOO g., respectively, have been reported.^*' Ganguly and 

 co-workers^" observed values for carotenes as high as 28.5 mg./lOO g. in 

 the case of cow ovaries, while the corresponding maximum carotenol level 

 was 0.7 mg./lOO g. Piccolo and Lieben^^^ were able to obtain carotene in 

 crystalline form from the corpora lutea. 



Carotene is present in the muscle in a concentration of 25 /ig./lOO g.^^' 

 Astaxanthin^^" (or a pigment resembling astaxanthin), in addition to (3- 

 carotene,^-- has been found in the retina of cattle. However, |5-carotene 

 alone was detected in the retina by Brunner et al.^-° Moreover, only /3- 



^5' D. J. Cabrera and Z. De Jesus, Philippine J. Animal Ind., 6, 5-42 (1939). 

 "4 H. Fischer and R. Hess, Z. phijsiol. Chem., 1S7, 133-136 (1930). 

 "5 E. Poulsson, Deut. Med. Wochschr., 56, 1688-1689 (1930). 

 "6 L. Zechmeister and P. Tuzson, Ber., 67, 165-155 (1934). 

 6" H. Fischer, Z. phijsiol. Chem., 96, 292-295 (1916). 

 «38 L. A. Moore, Ind. Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed., 12, 726-729 (1940). 

 *38 C. H. Whitnah, \V. J. Peterson, F. W. Atkeson, and H. W. Cava, J. Agr. Research, 

 SS, 343-355 (1939). 



