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Effect of Ascorbic Acid Deprivation in Guinea Pigs on Skeletal Metabolism¹

Veterans Administration Hospital and Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

The skeletal response to ascorbic acid deficiency in guinea pigs was studied. A reduction in skeletal deposition of both radioactive calcium and phosphorus was consistently observed following 14 days of vitamin C deprivation; and the lability of deposited bone salts was increased in the deficient animals. Subsequent calculations showed a highly significant inverse relationship between these parameters. Development of each was dependent on the time of deficiency. The close relationship between deposition and bone salt release leads to the suggestion that the type and amount of matrix formed was altered by the ascorbic acid deficiency. It is suggested that ascorbate deprivation, similar to that of some other deficiencies, may impede the transition of amorphic bone salts to the crystalline form.

Manuscript received 19 October 1967.