The Moore's hypothesis concerning a relationship between the metabolism of
copper and that of
vitamin A led us to consider a possible relationship between this
vitamin and
ceruloplasmin, the
carrier protein for
copper. Experiments were carried out on Sprague-Dawley rats. The
ceruloplasmin level of control animals and
vitamin A - deficient rats was determined An average increase between 22 and 33% was observed in the animals with
vitamin A deficiency, the highest levels being observed in the females. These results are in agreement with Peterson's previous work. A second type of experiment was carried out to confirm these results. The rats were raised in a
copper-deficient diet and the
vitamin A level was regularly determined. In these conditions serum and liver levels of
vitamin A are normal and do not vary,
ceruloplasmin level is zero; however
apoceruloplasmin is still being synthetized : Nevertheless at the ultime state of the
deficiency vitamin A level decreases while
apoceruloplasmin increases. These results raise the following question. Could the relationship between
ceruloplasmin and
vitamin A be possibly due to an inflammatory state in
vitamin A deficient rats. In this respect a third series of experiments were undertaken and are in progress; the
vitamin A and
ceruloplasmin levels are regularly determined.