[Fat soluble vitamins].

The first part of this presentation discusses the history of the discovery of vitamins that dates back to the early 20th century. The latter part deals with the basic physical and biochemical functions of fat-soluble vitamins, namely, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. Unlike water-soluble vitamins, most of which act as a coenzyme binding to an apoenzyme for the formation of holoenzyme, fat soluble vitamins have individual biochemical functions that do not share the same mechanism. Although studies on the mechanism of fat-soluble vitamin function in the cell were hampered due to difficulty in solubilization for in vitro studies in the past, recent progress in the understanding of such mechanisms has been remarkable.