A liquid chromatographic method for quantitative determination of α-tocopherol in rat brain

✍ Scribed by G.T. Vatassery; D.F. Hagen

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 330 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(77)90386-4

✦ Synopsis

A method for the quantitative determination of cY-tocopherol in rat brain is described. The brain sample is homogenized in the presence of ascorbic acid, ethanol, and hexane. The hexane extract is analyzed directly using a liquid chromatograph which is constructed from parts available commercially. The major components of the chromatograph are: solvent reservoir and injection port obtained from Varian Instrument Company, Farrand ratio II fluorometer, Autolab 6300 digital integrator, and Hewlett Packard 7127 A recorder. The method has a coefficient of variation of 7% for the analysis of rat brain cerebral hemisphere samples. The recovery ofa-tocopherol added to brain samples is nearly quantitative.

A deficiency of vitamin E (tocopherols) results in pathological changes in various tissues of animals including the central nervous system (1). Since brain is a complex structure neuroanatomically,