OCR Text |
Show 115 school of medicine and health sciences Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly. Lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoids found in the human eye that can help protect against AMD. We used mouse models in this study to assess how well these two molecules are absorbed and distributed in the blood, liver, and eye. The carotenoids were placed in formulations as zeaxanthin-sucrose monolau-rate (SML) and zeaxanthin-captisol and delivered to the transgenic mice via their drinking solution and gavage respectively. The transgenic mice have a zeaxanthin-binding-protein (human GSTP1) expressed in their retinas, thought to help the uptake of zeaxanthin in the retina. After 4 weeks of feeding, the tissues were taken and evaluated using HPLC. The results from the HPLC analysis showed that both wild type mice and transgenic mice who were fed either zeaxanthin-captisol or zeaxanthin- SML complexes had much higher levels of carotenoid found in their liver and serum than the con-trol mice which were not fed any carotenoid complex. Although there was a measurable amount of carotenoid found in both the liver and serum, the levels in the retina remained undetectable. The next phase in this study we will try other carotenoid formulations in hopes to improve the method of deliv-ery into the eye and increase the uptake in the liver and serum. We are also in the process of learning about the metabolic pathways in the mice that may be inhibiting the delivery of the carotenoids to the retina. UPTAKE AND BIOAVALIBILITY OF ZEAXANTHIN IN C57BL/6 MOUSE MODEL Michael W. Black (Preejith P. Vachali, Aihua Liu, Binxing Li, Zhengqing Shen, Brian Besch, Ryan Terry, Paul S. Bernstein) Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science John A. Moran Eye Center University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Michael W. Black Paul S. Bernstein |