Retinol, alpha-tocopherol, lutein/zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-carotene, trans-beta-carotene, and four retinyl esters in serum determined simultaneously by reversed-phase HPLC with multiwavelength detection.

We describe the use of HPLC with multiwavelength detection to measure retinol, alpha-tocopherol, lutein/zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-carotene, trans-beta-carotene, beta-carotene, and the linoleate, oleate, palmitate, and stearate esters of retinol in a single 200-microL serum sample. The method is sensitive enough to detect individual retinyl esters in fasting serum from a nonhyperlipidemic population and requires only 12 min for each sample. Serum concentration ranges and means are reported for retinol, alpha-tocopherol, lutein/zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-carotene, trans-beta-carotene, and the sum of the retinyl esters from serum analyses of 3480 participants from several different studies.