Objective: The study was carried out to analyze serum carotenoids concentration of some Chinese adults by HPLC.
Methods: One hundred and eighty four 30 - 60 year-old adults (84 males and 100 females) from three different communities were recruited in the investigation. The fast blood samples were collected and separated into serum in summer, autumn, winter and spring of the year, respectively. The serum were extracted with organic solvents and analyzed with a HP1100 HPLC for the concentration of beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein/zeaxanthin.
Results: The average serum concentration of carotenoids of investigated population in summer, autumn, winter and spring were as followed (inmicromol/L), respectively: beta-carotene, 0.72 +/- 0.20, 0.71 +/- 0.18, 0.70 +/- 0.19 and 0.63 +/- 0.20; alpha-carotene, 0.037 +/- 0.018, 0.039 +/- 0.015, 0.038 +/- 0.017 and 0.030 +/- 0.019; beta-cryptoxanthin, 0.11 +/- 0.03, 0.14 +/- 0.03, 0.13 +/- 0.04 and 0.10 +/- 0.03; lutein + zeaxanthin, 0.61 +/- 0.16, 0.45 +/- 0.09, 0.46 +/- 0.12 and 0.47 +/- 0.14; lycopene, 0.43 +/- 0.26, 0.11 +/- 0.06, 0.07 +/- 0. 04 and 0.07 +/- 0.03. The average serum beta-carotene concentration of total-population was lowest in spring, but the descent did not occurred from urban sub-population. There were significant seasonal changes in average serum concentrations of alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein + zeaxanthin, and lycopene from total population. Further more, there was significant difference of serum concentration of every carotenoid between three sub-populations in every season.
Conclusions: The data of serum carotenoid concentration in total 713 blood samples from some Chinese adults were reported here, which would be helpful to understanding the population distribution of carotenoid concentration in China.