Determination of tissue α-tocopherol in senescence-accelerated mice by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection Original Research Article

α-Tocopherol (α-Toc) plays an important role in various distinct physiological functions. A convenient assay using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection (the excitation and emission wavelength was 296 and 340 nm, respectively) was developed for the accurate determination of the α-Toc in biological samples. Methanol (1/7; v/v) was used to extract α-Toc in tissue samples by precipitating the proteins. The assay obtained a recovery rate between 97.3 and 104.2% by adding pure α-Toc to mice liver homogenate. The R.S.D. for intra-day (n=7) and inter-day (n=6, three consecutive days) analysis was 0.7–2.8 and 0.5–3.7%, respectively. The effect of age on the α-Toc levels in the liver, brain and heart homogenates of senescence-accelerated mice (SAM) was also studied. The α-Toc levels in the tissue homogenates increased gradually with age for both male and female mice, while the female had higher α-Toc levels than the males of the same age.