Plasma kinetics of lutein, zeaxanthin, and 3-dehydro-lutein after multiple oral doses of a lutein supplement

Abstract

Long-term supplementation with 4.1 and 20.5 mg lutein as beadlets increased plasma lutein concentrations approximately 3.5- and 10-fold, respectively.

Metabolism of lutein and zeaxanthin in rhesus monkeys: Identification of (3R,6′R)- and (3R,6′S)-3′-dehydro-lutein as common metabolites and comparison to humans

“…The conversion of 3′-dehydro-lutein from lutein was 6%. Thurman et al have also shown this to occur in humans (Thurmann et al, 2005). However, our study is unique in that this conversion was measured without the interference of 3′-dehydro-lutein possibly formed from zeaxanthin (Hartmann et al, 2004).…”

“…The separation of (3R,6′S)-and (3R,6′R)-3′-dehydro-lutein, lutein and zeaxanthin on chiral-phase HPLC in comparison to normal-phase (Si-60) HPLC is shown in Figure 4. We first applied this chiral-phase separation successfully to the analysis of 3′-dehydro-lutein in human plasma (Höller et al, 2005) out of the LUXEA-study Hartmann et al, 2004;Thurmann et al, 2005). In the recent work, we coupled the chiral separation to HR-MS detection, which enabled us to establish the exact molecular masses of the carotenoids in the chromatograms investigated.…”

“…Chromatograms visualising the separation of lutein 3, zeaxanthin 4, and two diastereomers of 3′-dehydro-lutein [(3R,6′R)-DhL 1 and (3R,6′S)-DhL 2] on a the normal-phase (upper chromatogram) and the chiral-phase (lower chromatogram) HPLC system used in the current study. A human plasma extract derived from a subject supplemented with lutein and zeaxanthin of the LUXEA study (Thurmann et al, 2005) was used. UV/VIS Spectra of carotenoids from monkey serum: (A) unknown peak from lutein-fed monkey serum; (B) all-trans-lutein from lutein-fed monkey serum; (C) 13-cis-lutein from lutein-fed monkey serum; (D) all-trans-zeaxanthin from zeaxanthin-fed monkey serum; (E) 3′-dehydro-lutein from zeaxanthin-fed monkey serum (F) 3′-dehydro-lutein from lutein-fed monkey serum.…”

“…Recent studies have reported the identification of 3′-dehydro-lutein (in some literature also referred to as 3′-oxolutein or 3′-ketolutein) in human serum after supplementation with either lutein or zeaxanthin at doses ranging from 1-20.5 mg/d for 42 days (Hartmann et al, 2004;Thurmann et al, 2005). It seemed likely that, in course of the metabolic oxidation of lutein or zeaxanthin, two diastereomers of 3′-dehydro-lutein with opposite configuration at C-6′, namely (3R,6′R)-3′-dehydro-lutein and (3R,6′S)-3′-dehydro-lutein respectively could be formed.…”

“…It seemed likely that, in course of the metabolic oxidation of lutein or zeaxanthin, two diastereomers of 3′-dehydro-lutein with opposite configuration at C-6′, namely (3R,6′R)-3′-dehydro-lutein and (3R,6′S)-3′-dehydro-lutein respectively could be formed. However, chiral analysis of 3′-dehydro-lutein extracted from human serum after supplementation with either lutein or zeaxanthin (Hartmann et al, 2004;Thurmann et al, 2005) indicated that the two diastereomers (3R,6′R)-3′-dehydro-lutein and (3R,6′S)-3′-dehydro-lutein are formed independently when lutein or zeaxanthin was supplemented (Höller et al, 2005). While more 3′-dehydro-lutein was formed during supplementation of humans with zeaxanthin than with lutein, both stereoisomers always occurred in approximately equimolar concentrations.…”