Abstract
In order to study the biological fate of all-trans- and cis-canthaxanthin in the brine shrimp Artemia, a quantitative method was developed for the determination of both carotenoids and their metabolic precursors in encysted embryos (cysts), nauplii, whole animals, organs, and subcellular fractions. This method is based on nonaqueous reversed-phase chromatography, two new exhaustive extraction procedures, and the determination of proteins in the extracted residue. Hydration of Artemia cysts caused a reversible conversion of part of the all-trans- to cis-canthaxanthin. During further pre-emergence embryonic development, there was little change in the levels of both isomers. After hatching of cysts, cis-canthaxanthin was progressively isomerized to the all-trans form, while the total (all-trans + cis) canthaxanthin to protein ratio tended to remain constant. Cis-canthaxanthin rapidly became undetectable in animals fed on algae and reappeared in females at an advanced stage of the reproductive cycle. All-trans-canthaxanthin remained present during the whole Artemia life cycle in addition to its metabolic precursors echinenone and beta-carotene. The carotenoid distribution in organs and subcellular fractions indicated high affinity of cis-canthaxanthin for the female reproductive system, oocytes in general, and yolk in particular. A role for cis-canthaxanthin is suggested at an early developmental stage, i.e., in cysts, before hatching.
Highlights
In order to study the biological fate of all-trans-and cis-canthaxanthin in the brine shrimp Artemia, a quantitative method was developed for the determination of both carotenoids and their metabolic precursors in encysted embryos, nauplii, whole animals, organs, and subcellular fractions
In this report we describe a method based on nonaqueous reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (1, 6, 7) and two new exhaustive extraction procedures for the quantitation of all-trans- and cis-canthaxanthin as well as their metabolic precursors &carotene and echinenone in small samples of Artemia
Pigmentary sexual dimorphism was supposedly nonexistent, and no specific carotenoid had been found in the female reproductive system and no metabolic changes had become apparent during development, except for cleavage of canthaxanthin-lipovitellincomplexes in connection with hatching of cysts [16]
Summary
In order to study the biological fate of all-trans-and cis-canthaxanthin in the brine shrimp Artemia, a quantitative method was developed for the determination of both carotenoids and their metabolic precursors in encysted embryos (cysts), nauplii, whole animals, organs, and subcellular fractions This method is based on nonaqueous reversed-phase chromatography, two new exhaustive extraction procedures, and the determination of proteins in the extracted residue. In this report we describe a method based on nonaqueous reversed-phase HPLC (1, 6 , 7) and two new exhaustive extraction procedures for the quantitation of all-trans- and cis-canthaxanthin as well as their metabolic precursors &carotene and echinenone in small samples (mg amounts) of Artemia We have applied this method to encysted embryos (cysts), nauplii, whole animals, organs, and subcellular fractions to study the changes in both isomeric canthaxanthin forms during Artemia development
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