Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 May 7;12(5):1333.
doi: 10.3390/nu12051333.

Why is Zeaxanthin the Most Concentrated Xanthophyll in the Central Fovea?

Justyna Widomska  1 , John Paul SanGiovanni  2 , Witold K Subczynski  3
Affiliations
Review

Why is Zeaxanthin the Most Concentrated Xanthophyll in the Central Fovea?

Justyna Widomska et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Diet-based xanthophylls (zeaxanthin and lutein) are conditionally essential polar carotenoids preferentially accreted in high concentrations (1 mM) to the central retina, where they have the capacity to impart unique physiologically significant biophysical biochemical properties implicated in cell function, rescue, and survival. Macular xanthophylls interact with membrane-bound proteins and lipids to absorb/attenuate light energy, modulate oxidative stress and redox balance, and influence signal transduction cascades implicated in the pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration. There is exclusive transport, sequestration, and appreciable bioamplification of macular xanthophylls from the circulating carotenoid pool to the retina and within the retina to regions required for high-resolution sensory processing. The distribution of diet-based macular xanthophylls and the lutein metabolite meso-zeaxanthin varies considerably by retinal eccentricity. Zeaxanthin concentrations are 2.5-fold higher than lutein in the cone-dense central fovea. This is an ~20-fold increase in the molar ratio relative to eccentric retinal regions with biochemically detectable macular xanthophylls. In this review, we discuss how the differences in the specific properties of lutein and zeaxanthin could help explain the preferential accumulation of zeaxanthin in the most vulnerable region of the macula.

Keywords: AMD; lipid bilayer; lutein; macula; macular xanthophyll; zeaxanthin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. SanGiovanni was in the central leadership of AREDS and AREDS2; he was involved in planning and implementing the major aspects of AREDS2. Dr. SanGiovanni has received in vivo retinal imaging measurement technology from ZeaVision. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of macular xanthophylls present in the retina, including dietary xanthophylls (lutein and zeaxanthin) and non-dietary xanthophyll (meso-zeaxanthin). Retinal meso-zeaxanthin is a product of the conversion of lutein. This xanthophyll is rarely encountered in the human diet. However, meso-zeaxanthin may be absorbed after oral administration and transported to the retina [11].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of major xanthophyll carotenoids in commonly consumed foods, circulation, and retinal areas, showing preferential accumulation of isomers of zeaxanthin in the fovea.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic drawing showing the preferential lutein β-ring-intercalation into the lipid membrane based on molecular dynamics study of Makuch et al. (for more details, see Ref. [127]). Two macular xanthophylls are shown: symmetrical zeaxanthin with two β-rings and asymmetrical lutein with one β-ring and one ε-ring.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Vertical section of a monkey fovea showing the distribution of macular xanthophylls (yellow color). (Adapted with permission from Snodderly, D.M., 1995. Am J. Clin. Nutr. 62, 1448S-1461S [23].) The zeaxanthin-to lutein ratio at 0–5° is 1.5:1.0; at 5–19°, 1.0:1.5; and at 19–38°, 1.0:2.0 (a 1° angular subtense in the retina represents 0.29 mm of retinal extent) [7,39].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic drawing showing the colocalization of zeaxanthin together with polyunsaturated phospholipid in the membrane domain. For more details, see Refs. [33,71,72].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chung H.-Y., Ferreira A.L.A., Epstein S., Paiva S.A.R., Castaneda-Sceppa C., Johnson E.J. Site-specific concentrations of carotenoids in adipose tissue: Relations with dietary and serum carotenoid concentrations in healthy adults. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2009;90:533–539. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27712. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Olmedilla B., Granado F., Southon S., Wright A.J.A., Blanco I., Gil-Martinez E., van den Berg H., Corridan B., Roussel A.-M., Chopra M., et al. Serum concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins A, E, and C in control subjects from five European countries. Br. J. Nutr. 2001;85:227–238. doi: 10.1079/BJN2000248. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vishwanathan R., Kuchan M.J., Sen S., Johnson E.J. Lutein and preterm infants with decreased concentrations of brain carotenoids. J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Nutr. 2014;59:659–665. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000000389. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson E.J., Vishwanathan R., Johnson M.A., Hausman D.B., Davey A., Scott T.M., Green R.C., Miller L.S., Gearing M., Woodard J., et al. Relationship between serum and brain carotenoids, α-tocopherol, and retinol concentrations and cognitive performance in the oldest old from the georgia centenarian study. J. Aging Res. 2013;2013:951786. doi: 10.1155/2013/951786. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Craft N.E., Haitema T.B., Garnett K.M., Fitch K.A., Dorey C.K. Carotenoid, tocopherol, and retinol concentrations in elderly human brain. J. Nutr. Health. Aging. 2004;8:156–162. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources