. 2023 Feb 18;152(4):981–993. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxab332

TABLE 3.

Vitamin K concentrations of tissues from mice fed a diet containing 2.2 μmol/kg unlabeled PK (control), ²H₇PK, ¹³C₁₁MK4, ²H₇MK7, or ²H₇MK9 for 1 week (stable isotope study)¹

		Males					Females
		Group					Group						2-way ANOVA P values
Tissue	VK form²	Control, unlabeled PK, n = 7	²H₇PK, n = 7	¹³C₁₁MK4, n = 7	²H₇MK7,n = 7	²H₇MK9, n = 7	Control, unlabeled PK, n = 6	²H₇PK, n = 7	¹³C₁₁MK4, n = 7	²H₇MK7, n = 7	²H₇MK9, n = 7	Sex	Group	Sex × Group
Duodenum	Unlabeled MK4	12.9^a ± 2.13	5.96^b ± 0.731	ND^c	4.93^b ± 0.789	4.99^b ± 0.880	30.3^a ± 4.44	9.47^b ± 1.93	18.2^a,b ± 2.39	12.9^b ± 2.58	10.6^b ± 1.64			<0.001
	Administered VK form	13.9^a ± 2.02	10.4^a ± 1.69	10.7^a ± 2.58	5.01^b ± 0.810	8.64^a,b ± 2.58	16.0^a ± 2.38	22.6^a ± 3.85	13.6^a ± 2.76	9.60^b ± 1.22	14.1^a,b ± 1.45	<0.001	<0.001	0.35
	Labeled MK4	ND^c	10.3^a ± 1.02	4.80^b ± 1.04	8.24^a ± 0.773	8.94^a ± 1.28	ND^b	30.0^a ± 4.39	26.5^a ± 2.22	29.4^a ± 3.72	23.1^a ± 2.83			0.03
	Total VK	28.3^a ± 1.86	27.7^a ± 1.88	18.6^a ± 3.06	18.8^a ± 1.68	23.6^a ± 3.73	46.9^a ± 6.02	64.5^a ± 7.38	60.5^a ± 3.30	53.0^a ± 6.26	49.0^a ± 4.02			0.037
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	37.1%^a,b ± 3.05%	25.8%^b ± 3.44%	43.9%^a ± 2.86%	37.9%^a,b ± 4.06%	0%^c	46.5%^a,b ± 3.03%	43.8%^b ± 2.77%	55.6%^a ± 1.06%	47.3^a,b ± 2.40%			0.026
Jejunum	Unlabeled MK4	8.29^a ± 0.467	4.57^b ± 1.09	4.98^b ± 0.887	3.90^b ± 0.940	5.09^b ± 1.46	23.2^a ± 6.95	9.12^b ± 3.70	8.11^b ± 0.959	4.65^b ± 2.63	4.36^b ± 1.66	0.006	<0.001	0.135
	Administered VK form	8.05^a ± 1.32	3.33^b ± 0.913	7.61^a ± 1.53	ND^b	ND^b	16.3^a ± 2.64	13.1^a ± 5.12	15.1^a ± 2.64	9.71^a ± 1.08	2.93^b ± 0.729			0.002
	Labeled MK4	ND^b	5.10^a ± 0.511	5.05^a ± 0.883	6.22^a ± 0.536	7.57^a ± 0.927	ND^c	21.8^a ± 3.14	13.4^b ± 1.16	17.9^a,b ± 2.52	15.5^a,b ± 1.45			<0.001
	Total VK	16.9^a ± 1.43	13.8^a,b ± 1.65	18.6^a ± 2.31	10.4^a,b ± 1.33	12.9^b ± 2.26	40.1^a ± 9.21	45.9^a,b ± 11.4	37.3^a ± 4.18	33.9^a,b ± 4.91	23.4^b ± 3.91	<0.001	0.006	0.099
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	36.9%^b ± 4.84%	27.2%^b ± 2.72%	60.0%^a ± 4.29%	58.7%^a ± 3.82%	0%^d	47.5%^b ± 2.90%	36.0%^c ± 1.43%	52.8%^b ± 3.02%	66.3%^a ± 3.42%			0.033
Ileum	Unlabeled MK4	10.1^a ± 1.40	4.87^b ± 0.902	2.80^b ± 0.429	2.81^b ± 0.442	3.27^b ± 0.752	41.7^a ± 4.98	16.5^b ± 3.56	16.9^b ± 2.59	16.5^b ± 4.33	13.2^b ± 2.62	<0.001	<0.001	0.437
	Administered VK form	7.67^a ± 0.647	2.89^c ± 0.629	4.54^b ± 0.382	3.08^c ± 0.500	2.89^b,c ± 0.643	11.6^a ± 1.68	3.62^c ± 0.758	7.96^b ± 0.871	3.97^c ± 1.34	6.60^b,c ± 1.63	<0.001	<0.001	0.343
	Labeled MK4	ND^c	10.4^a ± 0.653	6.69^b ± 0.708	10.9^a ± 0.635	11.0^a ± 1.03	ND^c	33.8^a ± 1.64	17.1^b ± 3.18	36.1^a ± 2.19	32.2^a ± 2.46			<0.001
	Total VK	18.1^a,b ± 1.67	18.8^a ± 1.18	14.2^b ± 1.22	17.0^a,b ± 1.23	17.8^a,b ± 1.09	53.7^a,b ± 6.22	55.5^a ± 4.78	44.8^b ± 5.19	59.0^a,b ± 4.77	54.8^a,b ± 4.74	<0.001	0.028	0.886
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	55.4%^a ± 3.77%	47.2%^b ± 2.45%	64.3%^a ± 2.57%	61.6%^a ± 4.06%	0%^c	60.9%^a ± 3.34%	38.2%^b ± 5.87%	61.3%^a ± 3.79%	58.8%^a ± 5.04%	0.454	<0.001	0.553
Colon	Unlabeled MK4	11.9^a ± 1.42	4.20^b ± 0.796	4.41^b ± 0.886	3.45^b ± 0.965	3.11^b ± 0.539	38.8^a ± 6.67	18.3^b ± 1.99	21.9^b ± 2.68	19.2^b ± 5.03	17.4^b ± 3.41	<0.001	<0.001	0.463
	Administered VK form	ND^a	ND^a	4.91^a ± 0.417	3.70^a ± 5.24	5.96^a ± 9.22	13.2^a ± 1.11	5.97^b,c ± 0.881	11.0^a,b ± 1.96	3.13^c ± 1.37	3.17^c ± 1.54			<0.001
	Labeled MK4	ND^b	8.58^a ± 0.989	7.04^a ± 0.609	8.91^a ± 0.622	8.03^a ± 0.702	ND^b	37.8^a ± 3.04	25.0^a ± 1.32	36.6^a ± 5.83	27.9^a ± 4.96			<0.001
	Total VK	11.9 ± 1.42	13.5 ± 0.850	16.9 ± 1.18	17.8 ± 5.84	22.5 ± 8.47	53.2 ± 6.40	63.0 ± 4.02	59.2 ± 3.37	59.9 ± 10.9	50.2 ± 7.22	<0.001	0.279	0.080
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	63.7%^a ± 6.00%	41.7%^b ± 3.02%	50.0%^a,b ± 7.03%	35.7%^a,b ± 9.45%	0%^c	60.0%^a ± 1.48%	42.3%^b ± 1.66%	61.2%^a,b ± 1.14%	55.6%^a,b ± 3.52%	0.163	<0.001	0.336
Liver	Unlabeled MK4	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	8.51^a ± 2.20	2.80^b ± 0.429	ND^b	ND^b	2.76^b ± 0.357			<0.001
	Administered VK form	20.4^a ± 4.68	20.9^a ± 4.13	10.5^a,b ± 0.628	6.27^b ± 2.02	17.5^a ± 2.84	48.6^b ± 10.2	63.2^a,b ± 10.5	18.1^c ± 1.92	81.3^a,b ± 7.57	104^a ± 23.2			<0.001
	Labeled MK4	ND^b	3.88^a ± 0.519	4.55^a ± 0.672	4.08^a ± 1.00	4.90^a ± 1.58	ND^b	16.9^a ± 1.55	13.7^a ± 0.656	16.4^a ± 1.44	15.8^a ± 0.773			<0.001
	Total VK	20.4^a,b ± 4.68	25.3^a ± 4.10	15.1^a,b ± 1.18	11.1^b ± 2.62	23.5^a ± 2.88	57.3^b ± 12.3	82.7^a,b ± 9.89	32.0^c ± 2.30	98.5^a,b ± 7.66	122^a ± 23.0			<0.001
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	15.3%^b ± 2.92%	30.1%^a ± 2.29%	36.9%^a ± 6.94%	20.9%^a,b ± 5.34%	0%^c	20.5%^b ± 2.83%	42.7%^a ± 2.30%	16.7%^b ± 2.02%	12.9%^b ± 2.53%			<0.001
Brain	Unlabeled MK4	21.1^a ± 1.50	10.9^b ± 1.08	8.01^b ± 0.632	7.46^b ± 0.755	8.97^b ± 0.499	112^a ± 19.9	61.0^b ± 4.84	60.2^b ± 6.24	57.6^b ± 5.89	51.7^b ± 4.76	<0.001	<0.001	0.20
	Administered VK form	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND
	Labeled MK4	ND^c	18.2^a ± 1.70	11.7^b ± 0.84	13.3^b ± 0.935	15.9^b ± 0.506	ND^d	93.0^a ± 7.42	62.2^c ± 5.37	85.8^a,b ± 8.35	72.6^a,b ± 6.64			<0.001
	Total VK	21.1 ± 1.50	29.1 ± 2.75	19.7 ± 1.41	20.9 ± 1.56	24.9 ± 0.944	112 ± 19.9	154 ± 12.0	122 ± 11.5	143 ± 14.2	124 ± 11.3	<0.001	0.144	0.447
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	62.5%^a,b ± 0.844%	59.1%^b ± 1.34%	63.9%^a ± 1.67%	63.9%^a ± 0.900%	0%^c	60.4%^a ± 0.737%	50.8%^b ± 0.838%	59.8%^a ± 0.509%	58.4%^a ± 0.510%			<0.001
Pancreas	Unlabeled MK4	92.1^a ± 6.07	50.5^b ± 2.75	42.2^b,c ± 3.11	43.7^b,c ± 3.15	39.7^c ± 2.28	359^a ± 23.0	159^b ± 4.96	154^b,c ± 2.05	139^b,c ± 5.63	143^c ± 8.84	<0.001	<0.001	0.268
	Administered VK form	ND^a	ND^a	2.18^a ± 0.332	ND^a	ND^a	ND^b	ND^b	5.49^a ± 0.553	ND^b	ND^b			<0.001
	Labeled MK4	ND^c	76.6^a ± 2.41	55.4^b ± 3.88	71.0^a ± 4.19	63.3^a,b ± 3.58	ND^c	276^a ± 8.27	188^b ± 6.85	242^a ± 11.4	231^a ± 18.4			<0.001
	Total VK	92.1^b ± 6.07	127^a ± 4.94	99.9^b ± 6.94	115^a,b ± 6.57	103^b ± 5.29	359^b ± 23.0	435^a ± 11.8	348^b ± 6.67	382^a,b ± 14.4	374^b ± 26.3	<0.001	<0.001	0.637
	% Labeled MK4 (of total VK)	0%^c	60.2%^a ± 0.777%	55.5%^b ± 0.772%	61.7%^a ± 1.53%	61.3%^a ± 1.15%	0%^c	63.5%^a ± 0.673%	54.0%^b ± 1.07%	63.4%^a ± 1.17%	61.7%^a ± 1.02%	0.249	<0.001	0.154

Values are geometric mean ± SEM; data are shown as pmol/g tissue (except % labeled MK4 rows). Superscript letters indicate pairwise comparisons by diet group across a row, where a > b > c > d for males and females separately, and geometric means sharing a common superscript are not significantly different from each other (Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference; P < 0.05). If analyses were not stratified on sex (i.e., the interaction term was nonsignificant), the effect of diet group was averaged over sex, and thus superscripts for males and females are parallel. All vitamin K concentrations were measured using C30 LC-MS assay with the following LLODs: 5 pmol/g for unlabeled PK, unlabeled MK4, ²H₇MK7, and ²H₇MK9 and 2.5 pmol/g for ²H₇PK, ²H₇MK4, ¹³C₁₁MK4, and ¹³C₆MK4. Abbreviations: LLOD, lower limit of detection; MK4, menaquinone-4; MK7, menaquinone-7; MK9, menaquinone-9; ND, nondetectable; PK, phylloquinone; VK, vitamin K.

“Administered VK form” refers to the VK form supplemented within that group (PK in the control group, ²H₇PK in the ²H₇PK group, and so on). “Labeled MK4” for the ¹³C₁₁MK4 group refers to the generated ¹³C₆MK4 only, not a sum of administered ¹³C₁₁MK4 and generated ¹³C₆MK4.