The physiology and tissue distribution of bilberry anthocyanins were studied in mice. After oral administration of bilberry extract (100 mg/kg body weight), both unmodified and methylated anthocyanins appeared in the plasma. The plasma concentration of total anthocyanins reached a maximum of 1.18 +/- 0.3 microM after 15 min and then sharply decreased. Their urinary excretion was highest between 0 and 6 h after administration and had ceased by 24 h. The total quantities of bilberry anthocyanins excreted into urine represented 1.88% (range, 0.62% to 2.45%) of consumed anthocyanins. Thirteen anthocyanins were identified in bilberry extracts. Of these, malvidin-3-glucoside and -3-galactoside were the principal anthocyanins in the plasma 60 min after administration. When mice were maintained for 2 weeks on a diet containing 0.5% of bilberry extracts, the plasma concentration of anthocyanins reached a maximum of 0.26 muM. Anthocyanins were detected only in the liver, kidney, testes, and lung, with maximum tissue concentrations of 605, 207, 149, and 116 pmol/g, respectively. In these organs, malvidin-3-glucoside and -3-galactoside were the predominant anthocyanins. Anthocyanins were not detectable in the spleen, thymus, heart, muscle, brain, white fat, or eyes. We conclude that bilberry anthocyanins were absorbed into the body and distributed in specific organs, particularly the liver, kidney, and testis. The most common anthocyanins in tissues were malvidin glycosides.

C57BL/6 mice were housed five per cage on a 12:12 h light/dark cycle. All animal care, including bed cleaning, was carried out during the nonactive phase. After 2 weeks, mean plasma corticosterone levels, collected during the nonactive (ZT6) and active (ZT18) phases, were 66.0 and 270.9 ng/ml, respectively. The values at ZT18 gradually increased in the order of the mice used for blood collection, but not at ZT6. When animal care was carried out at ZT18, the increasing pattern of plasma corticosterone levels previously observed at ZT18 was less pronounced after 2 weeks of acclimatization, and was not observed after 4 weeks. Therefore, animal care should be carried out in the active phase for at least 4 weeks before experiments involving stress responses in the active phase.

The first sentence of the left-hand column of p 1753 should be "No characteristic compound for nitrofurazone metabolite is given under EU legislation, and recent development methods for nitrofuran analysis still utilize SEM as marker residue for nitrofurazone abuse."