Fig. 5

Postprandial plasma responses and final intestinal fragment concentrations of vitamin A in young rats. Young rats were administered an oily emulsion containing retinyl palmitate and [1,1,1-¹³C₃]triolein via force-feeding. Blood samples were collected prior to feeding and every 90 min thereafter from a tail nick. Intestinal fragments were collected after euthanasia. Retinol, retinyl esters were extracted with hexane and quantified by HPLC. A, F) Postprandial plasma retinyl ester concentrations (µmol.L⁻¹); B, G) Postprandial plasma retinyl ester response expressed as area under the curve (AUC) (µmol.h.L⁻¹); C, H) Postprandial plasma retinol responses calculated by subtracting fasting plasma retinol concentrations (Δ retinol) (µmol.L⁻¹); D, I) Δ retinol expressed as area under the curve (AUC) (µmol.h.L⁻¹); E, J) Duodenal, jejunal and ileal vitamin A concentrations (nmol.g⁻¹), in females and males, respectively. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM for control rats (females n = 7; males n = 7; white bars and dashed bars for retinyl esters and retinol respectively) and VAS diet-fed rats (females n = 6; males n = 6; black bars and bold dashed bars for retinyl esters and retinol respectively). Asterisks indicate significant differences in retinol levels between the control and VAS groups: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Hashes indicate significant differences in retinyl ester levels between the control and VAS groups: #p < 0.05; ###p < 0.001.