Abstract
Oil of good quality can be obtained from a fresh liver when digested with alkali, but the yields of the oil and vitamin A are larger when somewhat decomposed materials are used. It is revealed from increase in the spectrophotometric ratio of E 300/328mμ of vitamin A that the vitamin A is decomposed as the liver becomes stale. The reason why more vitamin A can be turned out from decayed liver seems to be as follows : In the outer layer of the liver, the cells contain abundant oil globuli in which vitamin A is present in low concentration. In the deeper tissues the content of oil is not large, but it contains vitamin A in much higher concentration. From a very fresh liver, the latter oil cannot be extracted easily, and the yield is thus low.
