Absorption of vitamin D3-3H in control subjects and patients with intestinal malabsorption.

Abstract

The preparation of radioactive vitamin D3 and its absorption in the rat have been described by Norman and DeLuca (1) and by Schachter, Fink- elstein, and Kowarski (2). Using tied intestinal loops and animals with artificial lymph fistulae, Schachter and his associates (2) have shown that maximal absorption of tritium-labeled vitamin D3 takes place in the mid-jejunum and that its trans- fer into the blood is mainly via the lymph. Little information exists on the absorption of vitamin D in man, except for the observations of Kodicek (3), who found that between 13 and 23% of an oral dose of vitamin D2-14C was recoverable from the feces of infants within 3 days.