VIII. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY IN ANIMALS 275 



leiu'ooytcy in the area. Moreover, their prompt absorptiou of the vitamin 

 may make possible its continued inflow into the area. Dalklorf*^ describes 

 the action of the vitamin in wound heaUnj? under normal conditions as 

 follows: "lender certain conditions the type cell, the fii)roblast, lies in an 

 amorphous ground substance within which fibrils (reticulin) are formed 

 which may in turn become gathered into wavy bands of collagen. In 

 this transformation the fibrils seem to become cemented together by a 

 translucent matrix, the formation suggesting a colloid phenomenon, the 

 setting of a gel." 



Se\'eral investigators have shown that the strength of a scar is dependent 

 on the intercellular substances laid down by the fibroblasts and that within 

 certain limits a quantitatiN'e relation exists between the amount of ascorbic 

 acid available and the amount of intercellular materials produced, though 

 increasing the intake above the normal daily requirements does not pro- 

 duce greater than normal tensile strength of wounds.^^- ^° Danielli et aZ." 

 found that with doses of less than 2 mg. of ascorbic acid per day 

 large amounts of reticulin were formed, although the appearance of the 

 wound was not normal. Different types of tissue have different ascorbic 

 acid requirements. Galloway el al.^^ found that the healing of wounds in 

 skin and cartilage was much influenced by the ascorbic acid nutri- 

 tion whereas the need of the vitamin for healing wounds in epithelial tissue 

 appeared to be much less. Wolbach's studies" had also indicated this. 



Hunt*^ reported that in scurvy the intercellular material was fluid and 

 amorphous. In newly formed granulation tissue of an otherwise normal 

 animal there is an abundance of metachromatic staining material which 

 becomes less as the scar matures"- «. 64, 57, 68 ^^^ ^y^^]^ \q^q]^ of ascorbic acid 

 persists and, moreover, remains in a fluid or semifluid state. Wolbach*^ 

 suggested that this fluid might have originated as a discharge from the 

 vacuoles which he observed in the fibroblasts, particularly at their extrem- 

 ities. Recent studies"- ^'^ have indicated, however, that fat is present in 

 the vacuoles. Within a few days after administration of ascorbic acid the 

 intercellular material shows an increase in reticulin fibers, stainable with 

 silver nitrate. As they mature to collagen the fibers appear to lose their 

 ability to blacken in silver and develop an affinity for Van Giesen's 

 stain. ^^- *^ Hunt^^ reported that in scurvy the transformation of reticulin to 

 collagen is retarded or stops entirely, depending on the severity of the 



" G. Dalldorf, J. Am. Med. Assoc. Ill, 1376 (1938). 



" J. F. Danielli, H. B. Fell, and E. Kodicek, Brit. J. Exptl. Pathol. 26, 367 (1945). 



56 N. M. Galloway, R. C. Garry, and A. D. Hitchins, Brit. J. Nutrition 2, 228 (1948). 



" J. R. Penney and B. M. Balfour, J. Pathol. Bacterial. 61, 171 (1949). 



" H. Bunting, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 62, 977 (1950). 



" S. B. Wolbach, Am. J. Pathol. 9, 689 (1933). 



60 P. Klemperer, Am. J. Pathol. 26, 505 (1950). 



