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Effect of amino acids imbalance and ascorbic acid deficiency on carcinogenic action of N-nitrosopiperidine in guinea pigs.

The long-term maintenances of guinea pigs on diets with (a) lack of vitamin C, (b) lack of lysine, methionine and threonine or (c) with a deficiency of all the above nutrients led to the development of oesophageal hyperplasia and atrophic gastritis. These dietary insufficiences were found to favour oesophageal and gastric cancer production by NPIP with a greatly shortened tumour induction time. It seems likely that the observed features of NPIP carcinogenesis depend on the alteration of the chemistry and biochemistry of these organs provoked by the low intake of the above-mentioned nutrients.

Amino Acids↗

Ascorbic acid deficiency activates cell death and disease resistance responses in Arabidopsis.

Programmed cell death, developmental senescence, and responses to pathogens are linked through complex genetic controls that are influenced by redox regulation. Here we show that the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) low vitamin C mutants, vtc1 and vtc2, which have between 10% and 25% of wild-type ascorbic acid, exhibit microlesions, express pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, and have enhanced basal resistance against infections caused by Pseudomonas syringae. The mutants have a delayed senescence phenotype with smaller leaf cells than the wild type at maturity. The vtc leaves have more glutathione than the wild type, with higher ratios of reduced glutathione to glutathione disulfide. Expression of green fluorescence protein (GFP) fused to the nonexpressor of PR protein 1 (GFP-NPR1) was used to detect the presence of NPR1 in the nuclei of transformed plants. Fluorescence was observed in the nuclei of 6- to 8-week-old GFP-NPR1 vtc1 plants, but not in the nuclei of transformed GFP-NPR1 wild-type plants at any developmental stage. The absence of senescence-associated gene 12 (SAG12) mRNA at the time when constitutive cell death and basal resistance were detected confirms that elaboration of innate immune responses in vtc plants does not result from activation of early senescence. Moreover, H2O2-sensitive genes are not induced at the time of systemic acquired resistance execution. These results demonstrate that ascorbic acid abundance modifies the threshold for activation of plant innate defense responses via redox mechanisms that are independent of the natural senescence program.

Antioxidants↗

Inherited human collagen lysyl hydroxylase deficiency: ascorbic acid response.

A patient is described with congenital hypotonia, lax joints, friable skin, hemorrhagic scars, high-arched palate, and borderline microcornea. Acid hydrolyzed whole skin collagen had a reduced hydroxylysine content of 0.5 residues per 1,000 as compared to 5.1 +/- 0.7 in control skin. Collagen lysyl hydroxylase in dialyzed subcellular fractions of cultured skin fibroblasts required L-ascorbate as a principal cofactor. Activity of this enzyme in cultured skin fibroblasts derived from this patient, his father, and mother were 17%, 66%, and 39% of control values, respectively. Collagen prolyl hydroxylase activity was normal. Pharmacologic amounts of oral vitamin C (4 gm/day) produced an increase and withdrawal resulted in abrupt diminution of urinary excretion of hydroxylysine. Over a two-year period the patient's wound healing and muscle strength improved and corneal diameter increased. Hydroxylysine content of the skin did not increase.

Ascorbic Acid↗

Long-term effects of inadequate and excessive dietary ascorbate on bile acid metabolism in the guinea pig.

The effects of long-term chronic ascorbic acid deficiency and excessive ascorbic acid consumption on bile acid metabolism and biliary lipid composition were studied in guinea pigs. Male, weanling guinea pigs were fed a cereal-based scorbutigenic diet for 19 or 21 weeks. Ascorbic acid was administered either orally at 0.15 (group A) or 2.0 (group B) mg/100 g body weight, or it was mixed in the diet at levels of 500 (group C), 16-22 (group D), or 20,000 mg/kg (group E). Chronic ascorbic acid deficiency (groups A and D) caused depression of hepatic cytochrome P-450 levels and elevation of plasma cholesterol. Excessive ascorbate consumption did not alter these parameters relative to control levels. In contrast to results obtained in guinea pigs fed low or high amounts of ascorbate for 7-9 weeks, prolonged consumption of inadequate or excessive ascorbate resulted in little or no change in bile acid metabolism and biliary lipid composition except that bile acid pool size was increased 12% as a result of excessive ascorbate ingestion. Results of the present study suggest that there may be important differences in the guinea pig's metabolic response to ascorbic acid deficiency and ascorbic acid excess, depending on the length of the experimental period.

Administration, Oral↗

Effect of dietary ascorbic acid, cholesterol and PCB on cholesterol concentrations in serum and liver in a rat mutant unable to synthesize ascorbic acid.

The effect of ascorbic acid deficiency and excessive ascorbic acid intake on serum and liver levels of cholesterol and lipids was investigated in ODS-od/od (OD) rats fed a normal diet, a cholesterol-containing diet or a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-containing diet. The OD rat is a rat mutant unable to synthesize ascorbic acid. In OD rats, the dietary requirement of ascorbic acid to maintain normal growth and normal levels of cholesterol in serum and liver is about 300 mg of ascorbic acid/kg diet. In control (ODS-+/+) rats that can synthesize ascorbic acid, dietary addition of 0.5% cholesterol and 0.25% cholic acid caused elevation of cholesterol concentrations in serum and liver, elevation of total lipids in liver and reduction of the ratio of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum. Dietary addition of PCB (200 mg/kg diet) caused elevation of serum concentration of cholesterol and of the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum. In OD rats fed a normal diet, ascorbic acid deficiency slightly elevated serum concentration of cholesterol, elevated liver concentration of cholesterol and reduced the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum; and ascorbic acid excess did not affect serum and liver concentrations of cholesterol and the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum. In OD rats fed a cholesterol-containing diet, ascorbic acid deficiency elevated serum and liver concentrations of cholesterol, and did not affect the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum; and ascorbic acid excess did not affect serum and liver concentrations of cholesterol and the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol in serum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Vitamin C status of institutionalised and non-institutionalised aged.

The vitamin C status of 186 elderly subjects living at home and institutionalised in hospital, residential accommodation and sheltered dwelling was studied. Subjects from hospital and home receiving multivitamin supplements regularly were grouped separately. Ascorbic acid deficiency (plasma ascorbic acid less than or equal to 0.3 mg/100 ml) was noted in 47.2, 39.0, 46.2 and 47.4 per cent subjects of home, hospital, residential accommodation and sheltered dwelling, respectively. All subjects receiving multi-vitamin had plasma ascorbic acid (PAA) levels greater than or equal to 0.3 mg/100 ml. The mean levels of PAA appeared higher in females than males and the percentage incidence of low vitamin C status was higher in males than females in the majority of the groups. Leucocyte ascorbic acid (LAA) levels were measured in only 26 subjects of residential accommodation and of these 38.5 per cent had low LAA levels (less than 15 microgram/10(8) cells). The biochemical vitamin C deficiency was not accompanied by any recognised clinical manifestation.

Aged↗

Immunocompetence and oxidant defense during ascorbate depletion of healthy men.

To determine nonscorbutic effects of moderate vitamin C deficiency we measured immune function and oxidative damage in eight healthy men (25-43 y) who consumed 5-250 mg/d of ascorbic acid over 92 d on a metabolic unit. During ascorbic acid intakes of 5, 10, or 20 mg/d, subjects attained a state of moderate ascorbic acid deficiency as ascorbic acid concentrations in plasma, leucocytes, semen, and buccal cells dropped to less than 50% of baseline with no scorbutic symptoms observed. No changes in cell proliferation, erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes, and DNA strand breaks were observed; however, blood levels of glutathione and NAD(P) decreased during ascorbic acid deficiency, as did delayed hypersensitivity responsiveness. Concentrations of the oxidatively modified DNA base, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in sperm DNA and fecapentaenes, ubiquitous fecal mutagens, were increased during ascorbic acid depletion. Moderate vitamin C deficiency, in the absence of scurvy, results in alteration of antioxidant chemistries and may permit increased oxidative damage.

Adult↗

Dietary ascorbic acid and hepatic mixed function oxidase activity in the guinea pig.

Studies were carried out to characterize the response of hepatic mixed function oxidase (MFO) activity to chronic ascorbic acid deficiency and excessive ascorbic acid intake in the guinea pig. When guinea pigs were fed excessive ascorbic acid, there was a small increase in hepatic cytochrome P-450 which was unaccompanied by any alteration in drug-metabolizing enzyme activity. Similarly, induction of MFO activity by phenobarbital was not modified by excessive ascorbic acid administration. Chronic ascorbic acid deficiency resulted in depressed metabolism of aniline, aminopyrine, ethoxycoumarin and benzphetamine, but not of ethylmorphine, in comparison with animals fed diets containing control and/or excessive amounts of ascorbic acid. In contrast to the metabolism of all drugs studied, the 7 alpha-hydroxylation of cholesterol was depressed by both inadequate and excessive vitamin C intake, demonstrating the unique sensitivity of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase to dietary ascorbate.

Animals↗

Cell-mediated cytotoxicity and humoral immune response in ascorbic acid-deficient guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs were divided into three dietary groups: ascorbic-acid deficient, pair-fed, and ad libitum control. Two weeks later guinea pigs were immunized intradermally with 5 x 10(8) chicken erythrocytes in Freund's complete adjuvant. Hemagglutinating antibody titers to chicken erythrocytes 2 weeks after immunization were comparable in all three dietary groups. In vitro 51Cr release from labeled chicken erythrocyte target cells incubated with lymphoid cells from spleens of ascorbic acid-deficient guinea pigs was significantly less than with spleen cells from pair-fed and ad libitum control guinea pigs. The percentage of splenic lymphoid cells that formed rosettes with rabbit erythrocytes, a T cell marker, was the same in all three dietary groups. The defect of ascorbic acid deficiency may reflect an impairment of T lymphocytes function in cell-mediated cytotoxicity or a change in number or function of another cell type.

Animals↗

Environmental stress sensitivity of an ascorbic acid-deficient Arabidopsis mutant.

L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a powerful reducing agent found in millimolar concentrations in plants, and is proposed to play an important role in scavenging free radicals in plants and animals. However, surprisingly little is known about the role of this antioxidant in plant environmental stress adaptation or ascorbate biosynthesis. We report the isolation of soz1, a semi-dominant ozone-sensitive mutant that accumulates only 30% of the normal ascorbate concentration. The results of genetic approaches and feeding studies show that the ascorbate concentration affects foliar resistance to the oxidizing gas ozone. Consistent with the proposed role for ascorbate in reactive oxygen species detoxification, lipid peroxides are elevated in soz1, but not in wild type following ozone fumigation. We show that the soz1 mutant is hypersensitive to both sulfur dioxide and ultraviolet B irradiation, thus implicating ascorbate in defense against varied environmental stresses. In addition to defining the first ascorbate deficient mutant in plants, these results indicate that screening for ozone-sensitive mutants is a powerful method for identifying physiologically important antioxidant mechanisms and signal transduction pathways. Analysis of soz1 should lead to more information about the physiological roles and metabolism of ascorbate.

Arabidopsis↗

Nitrogen dioxide exposure and lung antioxidants in ascorbic acid-deficient guinea pigs.

We have previously found that ascorbic acid (AA) deficiency in guinea pigs enhances the pulmonary toxicity of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The present study showed that exposure to NO2 (4.8 ppm, 3 hr) significantly increased lung lavage fluid protein (a sensitive indicator of pulmonary edema) only in guinea pigs fed rabbit chow (a diet not supplemented with vitamin C) for at least 7 days, at which time lung AA was about 50% of normal. The rabbit chow diet did not cause reduced body weight as did commercial synthetic scorbutic diets, even when they were supplemented with AA. After 14 days of feeding rabbit chow, lung AA was reduced to 15% of control. At this time, alpha-tocopherol (AT) in the same lungs was reduced to 85% of control, and lung nonprotein sulfhydryls (NPSH) were increased to 114% of control. Exposure of the guinea pigs to NO2 (4.5 ppm, 16 hr) increased wet lung weight and further altered the antioxidants in deficient (but not normally fed) animals in the following manner: NPSH content was increased to 130% of control, AT was decreased to 74% of control, and AA was increased from 15 to 50% of control. These findings suggest that depletion of AA in guinea pigs removes an important defense against NO2. The lung appears to be able to partially compensate for the dietary lack of antioxidant by accumulating AA from other tissues and by increasing NPSH concentrations. However, sufficient exposure to NO2 leads to oxidation of AT and pulmonary edema. Conditions in which NO2 produced edema were accompanied by only a slight consumption of AT, and no detectable oxidation of lung AA or NPSH.

Animal Feed↗