Determination of alpha-tocopherol in erythrocytes by gas-liquid chromatography

• Main Authors: J.G. Bieri, R.K. Poukka, E.L. Prival
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 1970-03-01
• Series: Journal of Lipid Research
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022227520430020

A method is described for the determination of submicrogram amounts of alpha-tocopherol in 0.5 ml of packed erythrocytes. The alpha-tocopherol in a lipid extract is oxidized to alpha-tocopherylquinone which is separated by thin-layer chromatography, eluted, and quantitated by gas-liquid chromatography. Calculation is based on the recovery of added alpha-tocopherol-(3)H. Erythrocytes from stock rats had an average alpha-tocopherol concentration of 344 micro g/100 ml of packed cells, while for human cells the average was 235 micro g/100 ml. The ratio of red cell to plasma alpha-tocopherol was 0.482 for rat blood, and 0.244 for human blood.