American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 23, 1314-1321, Copyright © 1970 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Liver Stores of -Tocopherol in a Normal Population Dying Suddenly and Rapidly from Unnatural Causes In New York City

¹ From the Institute of Human Nutrition, School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine, Columbia University, New York 10032 and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, City of New York

Concentrations of -tocopherol, vitamin A, and total lipids were determined in the livers from 102 victims of sudden or rapid deaths from unnatural causes in New York City. Serum concentrations of vitamins E and A were determined from 50 of these same subjects. The complete data for vitamin A levels in serum and liver are reported elsewhere (21) and correlations with -tocopherol only are considered in this report.

The mean concentrations of -tocopherol found were 11.2 ± 9.2 µg/g liver and 265 ± 115 µg/g lipid. The coefficient of variation was least when -tocopherol was expressed per gram of lipid. A steady increase with age was observed in both lipid and -tocopherol per gram of liver, but the rate of accumulation of lipid exceeded that of tocopherol. Liver concentrations were not significantly related to ethnic background or cause of death.

A correlation between blood concentrations and liver stores of tocopherol per gram of tissue was found.

The ratio of liver to serum tocopherol was constant over the range of 4-12 µg/ml serum.

No correlation was found between the serum or the liver concentrations of vitamins A and E.