Hepatic Vitamin A Depletion in Alcoholic Liver Injury

SYMPTOMS of vitamin A deficiency, such as night blindness and hypogonadism, have been described in alcoholics,^1,2 but the relation between alcoholism, serum vitamin A, and hepatic vitamin A is not known. Previous studies of hepatic vitamin A levels in various disease states involved only autopsy material, did not include biopsy data, and did not specify whether the subjects studied were alcoholic.^{3 4 5} There are some reports on patients with alcoholic cirrhosis who had evidence of a low circulating level of vitamin A,^{2,6 7 8} but the actual hepatic vitamin A concentrations of these subjects have not been described. Therefore, we undertook a study.