CAROTENOIDS 



guinea-pigs is less than that of those fed a diet adequate in vitamin C. 

 This report should, at the moment, be treated with some caution for 

 the same investigator has recorded the presence of carotene in rat 

 liver, 2 ** • an observation which is at variance with most other pub- 

 lished reports {see p. 247). 



(c) Sheep 



Peirce's extended studies ^^ on sheep in Australia reveal that the 

 carotene plasma level on dry pasture is about 2 (jig./lOO ml. ; the level 

 responds to a diet of green fodder and can reach a maximum of about 

 18 fxg./lOO ml. ; but this is much less than the maximum which can be 

 reached in cows (of the order of 500-1,000 [xg./lOO ml.). 



Paulson, Hilmoe and Moxon^"® working in South Dakota con- 

 firmed these low figures, the levels which they obtained varied from 

 0-17 ^g./lOO ml. ; however, they claimed that those levels bore no 

 relation to carotene intake. Palmer, ® Goodwin and Gregory, ^ and 

 Pope, Phillips and Bohstedt^o? found no carotene in the plasma 

 of sheep which they examined. Sheep's livers contain a trace of caro- 

 tene, about 1-3 fi.g./g., which remains constant even on a diet which 

 completely depletes the liver of vitamin A. ^ » ' Ewes' colostrum 

 contains only a little (about 10 (xg. per litre) and, unlike other colostra, 

 this value does not fall soon after partition but is maintained even in 

 the late milk. ^ o « The efficiency of absorption of carotene in sheep is 

 of the same order as that recorded for other mammals. ^ ° • 



{d) Buffaloes 



Buffalo butter fat contains about 1/10 the amount of carotene 

 present in cows' butter fat, ^ • " and in some specimens it is completely 

 absent 



(e) Carahao 



Although it has colourless body fat carabao flesh contains about 

 0-2 [JLg./g. of carotene which is greater than the corresponding plasma 

 levels ; this is the opposite to the situation obtaining in cattle. The 

 fact that the concentration of carotenes in carabao flesh is only 1/10 

 that of cattle flesh is used in the Phillipines to diflterentiate between the 

 two in suspected cases of fraud, i » o. > o o 



(/) Hedgehogs 



Only 5 per cent, of the total carotenoids in the liver and plasma of 

 hedgehogs are xanthophylls. ^ » i The normal carotene values for plasma 

 and liver levels (90 (xg./lOO ml. and 6 (xg./g. respectively) vary during 

 the season and are highest during the period of activity ; they fall 

 during hibernation to 32 (xg./lOO ml., and 3-4 pig./g. respectively. 



246 



