Studies of the possible transference of flavonol antioxidants from the diet to the tissue lipids of rats.

I . The oxidative stability of lipids in the tissues (erythrocytes, liver and depot fat) from vitamin E-deficient rats was not improved by feeding these animals, for a period of 39-55 days before killing, on a vitamin E-free diet richly supplemented with the flavonoid antioxidants quercetin (3,s ,7,3’,4’-pentahydroxyflavone) and flavone (3,7,8,~’,5’-pentahydroxy-6tert.-butyl flavone). z. Addition of a-tocopherol (in the form of a-tocopheryl acetate) to the diet relieved, as expected, the investigated symptoms of vitamin E deficiency and greatly improved the stability of the tissue lipids. 3. Quercetin and flavone, when added in vitro to liver homogenate or to extracted adipose tissue, strongly retarded oxidation. It was concluded that those flavonols either were not absorbed by the animals or were destroyed in the body.