Distribution of alpha- and gamma-tocopherols in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) tissues.

Groups of Atlantic salmon parr (mean initial weight 9.5 g) were fed three diets, the first containing no tocopherol supplement, the others supplemented with either all-rac-alpha-tocopherol (A-T) or RRR-gamma-tocopherol (G-T). Tocopherol concentrations in the liver, serum, testes, kidney, brain, gill, muscle, and perivisceral fat were measured after 36 wk. Despite a higher dietary intake of G-T, compared to A-T, deposition of gamma-tocopherol (gammaT) was less efficient than of alpha-tocopherol (alphaT) in most tissues except in the perivisceral fat, an adipose tissue. In fish fed the G-T diet, the gammaT/alphaT ratio was highest in the perivisceral fat and lowest in the liver, indicating that the liver is the most discriminatory organ for retaining alphaT as compared to gammaT, and the perivisceral fat is more suitable for the storage of gammaT. A negative correlation (P < 0.01) was observed between the gammaT/alphaT ratio and the corresponding tissue phospholipid content, suggesting that gammaT is less efficiently deposited compared to alphaT in the phospholipid-rich membranes which are presumed to be the functional site for lipid antioxidants in vivo. During restricted intake of alphaT, the liver and muscle exhibited the greatest reduction of this tocopherol among the tissues analyzed. The presence of minimal alphaT in the muscle from fish fed the tocopherol-unsupplemented diet led to greater susceptibility to lipid peroxidation after frozen storage than was the case for muscle containing higher concentrations of either alphaT or gammaT. However, both alphaT and gammaT were effective stabilizers of salmon muscle lipids during frozen storage.