Redistribution of vitamin A in tissues of rats with imposed chronic confinement stress

• Published in: British journal of nutrition 1982-05, Vol.47 (3), p.645-652
• Main Authors: Nakano, Kiwao, Morita, Akihito
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Body Weight; Male; Organ Size; Papers on General Nutrition; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Restraint, Physical; Space life sciences; Stress, Physiological - blood; Stress, Physiological - metabolism; Tissue Distribution; Vitamin A - blood; Vitamin A - metabolism
• ISSN: 0007-1145; 1475-2662
• DOI: 10.1079/BJN19820076

1. The effect of confinement stress on the metabolism of vitamin A was studied in ratsby following changes in tissue distribution of the vitamin for 29 d. In order to minimizepredicted errors which might result from fluctuation of vitamin A intake, the effect of the stress was investigated in rats fed on a vitamin A-free diet. 2. Daily stress for 6 h induced an enlargement of the adrenals with a concomitant involution of the thymus and spleen, values returning to normal within 11–15 d. 3. The stress caused an immediate decrease in the content of vitamin A in serum. 4. Feeding rats a vitamin A-free diet resulted in a significant increase in the vitamin Acontent of the kidney. Imposing stress on these rats inhibited markedly the increase in kidney vitamin A content. 5. The stress produced no appreciable change in levels of the vitamin in the liver andtestes. 6. There was a preferential accumulation of the vitamin in the adrenals of the stress-imposed rats even though they were fed on a vitamin A-free diet. 7. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that chronic immobilization stress produced marked tissue-dependent changes in their vitamin A content.