BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON D-ARABOASCORBIC ACID IN VITAMIN C DEFICIENCY

Abstract

In order to estimate the amounts of VC excreted in the urine after administering ArAA to VC deficient subjects, the method of Nagayama was adopted with satisfactory results.
A comparison was made between the amounts of the reduced VC excreted in the urine after administering ArAA and AA, respectively, to VC deficient subjects and it was revealed that the rate of excretion of reduced ArAA was very high and reached about ten to fifteen times as high as that of AA.
The result of measuring the total VC has equally revealed that, after loading with AA only, about 5% of the amount loaded was excreted, whereas after administering ArAA, more than 50% of the amount loaded was excreted in the urine in 6 hours. This indicates that ArAA, not only its reduced form, but also the total VC, is excreted in the urine at a far higher rate than AA. It may be concluded that the duration of fixation and the amount preserved within the human body in VC deficiency are extremely small, and consequently that its anti-scorbutic activity in the VC dificient human body is trifling compared with that of AA.