QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Berger, J. Articles by Taylor, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Berger, J. Articles by Taylor, A.

Relationship between Dietary Intake and Tissue Levels of Reduced and Total Vitamin C in the Nonscorbutic Guinea Pig¹

Laboratory for Nutrition and Cataract Research, United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a broad range of dietary intake levels of ascorbate on the distribution of both total and reduced ascorbate in guinea pig tissues. Young male Hartley guinea pigs were fed for 2 mo a modified Reid-Briggs purified diet containing five different levels of total ascorbate that provided 0.8–52 mg ascorbate/d. We also fed aged guinea pigs two different levels of ascorbic acid (1.5 or 60 mg/d) for 2 mo. Reduced and total ascorbate was measured in eye lens and aqueous humor, liver, kidney and plasma. The data indicate that it is possible to markedly enhance the level of ascorbate in tissues above that obtained by feeding a diet that contains only enough ascorbate to prevent scurvy. In all tissues, as the level of total ascorbate present in the tissue increased, so did the proportion present in the reduced form. In old guinea pigs, the eye lens was the only tissue in which both reduced and total ascorbate were significantly lower than in the young guinea pigs at both high and low intake levels.

KEY WORDS: • reduced ascorbate • ascorbic acid • vitamin C • guinea pig • lens • aqueous humor • liver • kidney • aging

¹ Supported in part by USDA Contract No. 53-3K06-5-10; Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc.; The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation; and The Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund, Inc.

Manuscript received 19 July 1988. Revision accepted 9 February 1989.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Wolkart, M. V. Wenzl, M. Beretta, H. Stessel, K. Schmidt, and B. Mayer Vascular tolerance to nitroglycerin in ascorbate deficiency Cardiovasc Res, July 15, 2008; 79(2): 304 - 312. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]