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Abstract
Human retinal tissue synthesized vitamin A ester through reactions associated with the operation of the visual cycle during light adaptation. The ester was isolated by chromotographic procedures and analyzed. The isolated vitamin A ester was found to be a mixture containing saturated and monoenoic C12 to C13 fatty acids. The major components, comprising 90 per cent of the mixture, were vitamin A palmitate, palmitoleate, stearate, and oleate. The fatty acid composition of retinal vitamin A ester differed markedly from that of the human retinal lipids in general. The principal fatty acids of human retinal tissue were palmitic, stearic, oleic, arachidonic, and docosahexaenoic acids. Neither age nor sex appeared to influence the relative abundance of these fatty acids in the retina.