270 ASCORBIC ACID 



1930, 1932 — Tillmans and associates" demonstrated that the indicator 

 dichlorophenolindophenol could be used to measure the antiscor- 

 butic potency of foods. 



1932 — Szent-Gyorgyi and Haworth^^ and Waugh and King^^ identified the 



"hexuronic" acid as vitamin C. 



1933 — Haworth^* determined the structure of the ascorbic acid molecule. 

 1933 — Reichstein, Griissner, and Oppenauer'^ synthesized ascorbic acid. 

 1936 — Stephens and Hawley^^ demonstrated the high content of the vi- 

 tamin in the leucocytes. 



1939 — Sealock and associates'^ demonstrated that ascorbic acid is con- 

 cerned in the metabolism of tyrosine. 



1943, 1948 — Roe and associates'^' '^ developed the osazone method of as- 

 saying for the vitamin. 



1944 — Crampton and associates-" demonstrated the "growth of the odon- 

 toblasts" method of assay. 



1947 — • Nungester and Ames^' showed convincingly the relationship 



between ascorbic acid and phagocytic activity. 



1948 — Christensen and Lynch-- showed that a marked decrease in glycine 



and gkitamine and an increase in other amino acids occurs in scor- 

 butic muscles. 

 1950, 1951 — King and associates'^' -■* demonstrated in studies with radio- 

 active ascorbic acid that much of the administered vitamin 

 is broken down to carbon dioxide. 



B. GROSS EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 



Scurvy is a disease resulting from severe ascorbic acid deficiency. Only 

 the primates and guinea pigs are susceptible to it, because only they lack 



" J. Tillmans, P. Hirsch, and W. Hirsch, Z. Untersjich. Lebensm. 60, 34 (1930); 63, 1 

 (1932). 



12 A. Szent-Gyorgyi and W. N. Haworth, Nature 131, 24 (1933). 



13 W. A. Waugh and C. G. King, J. Biol. Chem. 97, 325 (1932). 

 " W. N. Haworth, Chemistry & Industry 53, 482 (1933). 



15 T. Reichstein, A. Griissner, and R. Oppenhauer, Helv. Chim. Acta 16, 1019 (1933). 



16 D. J. Stephens and E. E. Hawley, J. Biol. Chem. 115, 653 (1936). 



" R. R. Sealock, B. Ziegler, and R. L. Driver, J. Biol. Chem. 128, Ixxxix (1939). 



18 J. H. Roe and C. A. Kuether, J. Biol. Chem. 147, 399 (1943). 



1' J. H. Roe, M. B. Mills, M. J. Oesterling, and C. M. Damron, J. Biol. Chem. 174, 



201 (1948). 

 " E. W. Crampton, B. C. Collier, L. D. Woolsey, and F. A. Farmer, Science 100, 599 



(1944). 

 ''I W. J. Nungester and A. M. Ames, J. Infectious Diseases 83, 50 (1948). 

 " H. N. Christensen and E. L. Lynch, J. Biol. Chem. 172, 107 (1948). 

 " J. J. Burns, H. B. Burch, and C. G. King, J. Biol. Chem., 191, 501 (1951). 

 2" S. S. Jackel, E. N. Mosbach, J. J. Burns, and C. G. King, J. Biol. Chem. 186, 569 



(1950). 



