American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 6, 61-64, Copyright © 1958 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Effect of Storage on Tissue Tocopherols

¹ From the Department of Anatomy, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, N. Y.

Total tocopherols in human tissues were determined chemically after various intervals of storage. During eight days storage at 4° C, tocopherol loss was greatest in adipose tissue, somewhat less in liver, brain and muscle, and least in lung. Removal of skin from an extremity prior to storage hastened tocopherol deterioration in underlying adipose tissue and muscle. After eight weeks storage at –20° C, tocopherol loss in adipose tissue and liver was somewhat less than after eight days at 4° C.

Prolonged storage at –20° C for 4, 9, 24, 34, 52, and 109 weeks resulted in a decline of tocopherol levels to 79, 66, 55, 50, 33, and 24 per cent of original values in adipose tissue, and to 93, 78, 60, 54, 37, and 34 per cent in liver. In neither tissue was there a significant change in lipid content, or in iodine number or peroxide value of the lipid, during the storage period of more than two years.