{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T20:33:41Z","timestamp":1777926821816,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"S. Karger AG","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,25]],"date-time":"2009-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1253836800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/pages\/terms-and-conditions"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,25]],"date-time":"2009-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1253836800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/pages\/terms-and-conditions"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biol Neonate"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vitamin A (retinol) is essential for normal differentiation and integrity of developing respiratory epithelium and its deficiency has been linked to an increased susceptibility to lung injury. Because significant vitamin-A storage occurs in the fetal lung near term in the perinatal rat, prematurely born animals deprived of adequate stores in their lungs may be susceptible to the adverse effects of vitamin-A deficiency. It would be desirable if lung vitamin-A stores could be augmented with maternal administration, but the feasibility of this strategy has not been reported. We therefore conducted this study in rats to determine whether maternal administration of vitamin A could increase the lung stores of vitamin A in the offspring. Vitamin-A-sufficient pregnant rats were given a single dose of either vitamin A (50,000 IU retinyl palmitate) or 0.9% saline solution on gestational day 16 (term = 21 days) by the intragastric route. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to measure concentrations of vitamin A and its esters in fetal and neonatal lungs and livers at times ranging from gestational day 17 through 21, and from postnatal day 1 through 14. The concentrations of vitamin-A esters in the lungs of fetuses and newborn pups of the vitamin-A-treated animals were significantly (1.7- to 7.1-fold) higher than those of the control group. This increase in the lung vitamin-A ester concentrations was seen within 24 h of maternal administration and persisted throughout the 14-day postnatal period. Maternal administration of vitamin A was also associated with an increase in the liver vitamin-A ester concentrations in the offspring, although this increase was less in magnitude and duration relative to the increase in the lung vitamin-A ester concentrations. We conclude that a prompt, sustained increase in the fetal lung stores of vitamin A is possible following prenatal administration of a single large dose of vitamin A to the mother. The possibility that vitamin-A administration to human mothers with imminent preterm deliveries might augment the lung vitamin-A stores of their newborn infants at birth needs to be explored.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1159\/000243286","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,28]],"date-time":"2009-09-28T08:24:24Z","timestamp":1254126264000},"page":"318-325","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Effect of Maternal Vitamin-A Administration on Fetal Lung Vitamin-A Stores in the Perinatal Rat"],"prefix":"10.1159","author":[{"given":"Jayant P.","family":"Shenai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frank","family":"Chytil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"127","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,25]]},"container-title":["Biology of the Neonate"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.karger.com\/Article\/Pdf\/243286","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1159\/000243286","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T22:24:47Z","timestamp":1777674287000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/karger.com\/article\/doi\/10.1159\/000243286"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,25]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1159\/000243286","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0006-3126","1421-9727"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0006-3126","type":"print"},{"value":"1421-9727","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2009,9,25]]}}}