The relationship between the α-tocopherol content of the yolk and its accumulation in the tissues of the newly hatched chick

✍ Scribed by Surai, Peter F; Gaal, Tibor; Noble, Raymond C; Speake, Brian K

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 194 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(199710)75:2<212::aid-jsfa866>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

The e †ect of a range of concentrations of a-tocopherol in the initial yolk on the subsequent levels of this vitamin in the tissues of the newly hatched chick was investigated. Four batches of fertile eggs (Ross 1 broiler-breeder type) with mean yolk a-tocopherol concentrations (kg g~1 yolk) of 60É8, 155É3, 272É2 and 376É6 were incubated and the levels of the vitamin in the liver, brain, heart and kidney of the resultant chicks were measured. The liver of the day-old chick contained far higher levels of the vitamin than were found in the other tissues studied. The concentration of a-tocopherol in the liver was directly proportional to the initial level of this vitamin in the yolk. The concentrations of a-tocopherol in the brain were only about 1% of the corresponding liver values but were also directly proportional to the levels initially present in the yolk. The concentrations of a-tocopherol exhibited by the heart and kidney were a †ected by the initial yolk values but the response was not linear over the range of yolk atocopherol concentrations studied. The results indicate that the initial concentration of a-tocopherol in the yolk has a profound e †ect on the subsequent levels of this vitamin in the tissues of the chick. In a separate experiment, the changes in the concentration of a-tocopherol in the liver were studied over the Ðrst 9 days after hatching. The vitamin was found to be rapidly depleted from the liver after hatching.