Water-soluble fluorescent compounds in liver, lung, spleen, kidney, heart, and brain of vitamin E deficient and supplemented mice.

A systematic search was conducted to find fluorescent compounds in water-soluble mouse tissue extracts which may be related to dietary vitamin E. Female weanling mice were fed a vitamin E deficient or a vitamin E supplemented diet for 14 months. The lung, liver, spleen, kidney, heart, and brain were homogenized and extracted with 2:1 chloroform:methanol and water. The water was lyophilized and the fluorescent compounds were separated by Sephadex G-15 or G-25 column chromatography. For each tissue, thorough excitation and emission spectra were determined for the eluting fractions, then the fluorescence of each fraction was measured at the resulting excitation and emission wavelength maxima. Up to four fluorescent water-soluble compounds responded to dietary vitamin E, depending on the tissue. Vitamin E in the diet led to the decreased accumulation of three of the fluorescent compounds, with excitation and emission wavelengths of: 275 nm/350 nm, 270 nm/310 nm, and 275 nm/350 nm. The fourth compound (320 nm/380 nm) is probably protected by vitamin E in the diet.