The effects of a 21-week exposure to Aroclor 1242 (1mg per day in feed) on plasma concentrations of vitamins A(1) (retinol) and A(2) (3,4-didehydroretinol) and their principal fatty acyl esters (A(1)-16:0, A(2)-16:0 (palmitates), A(1)-18:1n-9; A(2)-18:1n-9 (oleates), and A(1)-18:0; A(2)-18:0 (stearates)) were studied in young female mink (Mustela vison) fed a diet based on freshwater smelt. These vitamin levels were also examined in mink fed diets containing Baltic herring or fatty marine fish. In the Aroclor-exposed smelt-fed mink, the plasma concentrations of A(1) and A(2) esters were significantly lower than the levels in controls fed the uncontaminated smelt diet. In addition, the A(2) esters reacted more sensitively to the polychlorinated biphenyls than did A(1) esters. In contrast, in the plasma of the exposed mink the level of alcoholic A(1) was normal, and transport of thyroxine (T(4)) and nonspecific lipoprotein transport of major lipids were not impaired. Despite the large dietary supply of vitamin A(2) and high levels of plasma A(2) esters, the mink fed freshwater smelt had only trace amounts of alcoholic vitamin A(2) in their plasma. The concentrations of A(1) and A(2) esters in the plasma of all the mink studied correlated with the hepatic total concentrations of the vitamins. Thus, in carnivores that have nonspecific lipoprotein transport of vitamin A esters, determination of plasma levels of the esterified vitamins may be a useful nondestructive way to estimate stores of the vitamin A analogs in the body and to assess the organochlorine-induced decrease in the vitamin stores.