The Mobilization and Tissue Distribution of Beta-Carotene in the Rat by the Venous Injection Method.

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Now it is known that beta-carotene (β-carotene) has other important biological functions in addition to the role of vitamin A precursor. The various epidemiological studies suggested that high β-carotene intake might reduce the incidence of the cancer risk. Although several studies are under way to find biological evidence for the epidemio-logical results, the mechanism of action of β-carotene is still unknown. As the first step to elucidate the biological functions of β-carotene, we investigated the mobilization and the distribution of all-trans-a-carotene in the rat. Because it was reported that the rat did not absorb the intact form of β-carotene, we injected a β-carotene suspension intravenously (dose; 2.0mg/rat). After injection, a high amount of β-carotene (about 1.5mg-2.0mg) accumulated in the lung very rapidly (within 5 min). By this method, the time-dependent mobilization and distribution of β-carotene in the rat was as follows: all-trans-β-carotene was accumulated in the lung then moved to the liver, was distributed in adipose tissues (after 1 week), pancreas (after 2 weeks), and muscle tissue or testis (after 3 weeks).