Plasma carotenoids of monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Saimiri sciureus) fed a nonpurified diet.

The major carotenoid pigments in the plasma and in a common, nonpurified diet of two species of monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Saimiri sciureus) were measured. The xanthophylls, lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-cryptoxanthin, and beta-cryptoxanthin, were the principal carotenoids in both the diet and the plasma. Lutein and zeaxanthin were abundant in the all-trans, the 9-cis, and the 13-cis geometrical isomers in the diet, but the 9-cis form was rarely measurable in plasma. However, the 13-cis isomers of lutein and zeaxanthin were found in higher proportions in plasma than in the diet. For both the monohydroxy-xanthophylls, alpha-cryptoxanthin and beta-cryptoxanthin, and the dihydroxy-xanthophylls, lutein and zeaxanthin, the beta, beta structural isomer (beta-cryptoxanthin or zeaxanthin) is less abundant than the beta, epsilon isomer in plasma than in the diet. These results indicate substantial specificity in the absorption or retention of closely related carotenoid isomers in primates. The proportions of different geometrical isomers of lutein and zeaxanthin in the plasma of both species of monkeys were nearly identical and were similar to human values. The hydrocarbon carotenoids, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene were usually undetectable in monkey plasma. The monkeys appear to be like humans in their utilization of lutein and zeaxanthin but distinctly different in some other aspects of carotenoid utilization.