On the occurrence of vitamin E in the liver of dystrophic and antioxidant-fed rabbits

A revised procedure for the determination of α-tocopherol has been applied to the livers of rabbits in the vitamin E-deficient state and following regeneration with vitamin E or the synthetic antioxidant DPPD. No α-tocopherol could be detected in the tissues of the deficient animals or of those cured of dystrophic symptoms with DPPD. These results provide further evidence for the nonspecificity of the vitamin E requirement of animals and relegate against a possible role for tocopherols as cofactors in enzymic reactions.