FACTORS ALTERING CONCENTRATION OF CAROTENOIDS 513 



Table 24 



Tocopherol Content of Plasma and Liver of Newborn Lambs, Kids, 



and Pigs Whose Mothers Had Received No Tocopherol, or a Supplement 



of 80 Mg. of Mixed Tocopherol per 100 Lbs. of Body Weight" 



Tocopherol in plasma,* ng. % Tocopherol in liver,* /ig./g. 



Species Controls Supplemented Controls Supplemented 



Lambs 20 ±10(6) 94 ±62(6) 25.3 ±2.7(6) 30.0 ± 4.3 (6) 



Kids 16 ± 8(5) 65 ±40(5) 10.4 ±1.5(5) 13.1 ±2.0 (6) 



Pigs 120 ± 28(6) 101 ± 33(7) 24.7 ±3.6(8) 26.4 ±4.7(10) 



« F. Whiting and J. K. Loosli, J. Nutrition, 36, 721-726 (1948). 



6 Including the Standard Error of the Mean. The figures in parentheses are the 

 number of samples analyzed. 



serum tocopherol of the dam to the serum tocopherol of the calf was greatly 

 increased. 



Placental transfer of vitamin E is likewise decidedly limited in the human 

 subject, as is evident from the data of Wright, Filer, and Mason. 970 Whereas 

 the mothers who had nursed their infants had a level of serum tocopherol 

 of 1.82 milligram per cent and those who had not nursed the babies had an 

 average serum tocopherol of 2.05 milligram per cent on the second day 

 postpartum, the average tocopherol content of the newborn was only 0.38 

 ± 0.18 milligram per cent. 



(c) Plasma Tocopherols in the Newborn and Young Animal. As is 

 evident from the data presented in the previous section, the level of to- 

 copherol in the blood serum of the newborn is much lower than in the adult. 

 There is a rapid increase in the tocopherol levels as soon as the young 

 animal partakes of colostrum. This occurs irrespective of whether or not 

 the dam was supplemented with tocopherol prior to parturition. In the 

 experiments reported by Parrish et aL, 969 the average tocopherol content 

 listed in Table 26 was noted in the blood of calves after parturition (p. 515). 



In the case of human subjects, Abderhalden 971 reported a figure of 96 

 microgram per cent for the tocopherol content of the newborn infant, 

 while Straumfjord and Quaife 972 recorded a figure of 340 microgram per 

 cent. More recently, Moyer 973 has found a mean value of 0.22 ± 0.13 

 milligram per cent (220 fig.) for the cord blood of thirty-three full-term 

 infants, and of 0.24 milligram per cent for the venous blood of these babies. 

 The mixed blood of fifty-three full-term infants, whose plasma tocopherol 



970 S. W. Wright, L. J. Filer, Jr., and K. E. Mason, Pediatrics, 7, 386-393 (1951). 



971 R. Abderhalden, Schweiz. med. Wochschr., 75, 281-283 (1945). 



972 J. V. Straumfjord and M. L. Quaife, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 61, 369-371 

 (1946). 



973 W. T. Moyer, Pediatrics, 6, 893-896 (1950). 



