VIII. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY IN ANIMALS 339 



8. ClIEMOTHEUAPEUTlC, IMMUNOLOGIC, AND AlLERGIC RELATIONS 



a. Bacterial Diseases 



Ascorbic acid is often credited with assisting the l)ody to resist infection, 

 particularly with respect to those diseases which are associated with an 

 elevation of body temperature. Among the diseases in which the require- 

 ment of the vitamin appears to l)e increased (on the basis of excretion 

 studies) are tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, and pneumonia, the increased 

 need undoulitedly i)eing caused by the elevated l)ody temperature. Bartlett 

 et fl/."'^" stated that their mortality figures in human cases were highly sug- 

 gestive and that complete saturation of the tissues with ascorbic acid aided 

 in diminishing infection. Findlay*^' produced a prescorbutic condition in 

 guinea pigs maintained on a diet of oats, bran, and autoclaved milk sup- 

 plemented with 2 ml. of orange juice every third day, and determined their 

 resistance to four species of pathogenic bacteria. In all cases the pigs on the 

 lower ascorbic acid intake, although showing no obvious signs of scurvy, 

 succumbed to smaller infecting doses than did the controls. Werkman et 

 al.^^- also reported that resistance of guinea pigs to bacterial infection was 

 diminished when they were kept on diets deficient in vitamin C. The re- 

 duced temperature, characteristic of the scorbutic state in guinea pigs, 

 was considered of significance in reducing resistance. Schmidt-Weyland 

 and Koltzsch'*^^ found that guinea pigs on a scorbutigenic diet were much 

 more susceptible than normal animals to infections induced by inhalation 

 and/or feeding with a mixture of penumococci and a fowl cholera pasteur- 

 ella strain. ]\Iany more deaths from penumonia occurred among the scor- 

 butic animals. Perla and Mamorsten"**^ reported that in guinea pigs receiv- 

 ing insufficient amounts of ascorbic acid a chronic infection of low virulence 

 may develop more rapidly and severely than in normal animals. 



If ascorbic acid does have a beneficial influence on the course of certain 

 types of infection in animals, the effect may presumably result from (1) an 

 increase in the formation of, or availability of, immune Vjodies, (2) detoxifi- 

 cation of harmful products of bacterial action, (3) altered permeability of 

 membranes, or (4) increased phagocytic activity. 



(1) Relation of Ascorbic Acid to Immune Bodies. Several investigators 

 have reported favoraVjle effects of vitamin C on the production of anti- 



«0M. K. Bartlett, A. E. Ryan, and G. D. Drummey, New Engl. J. Med. 229, 642 



(1943). 

 *s' G. M. Findlay, J. Pathol. Bacterial. 26, 1 (1923). 

 "2 C. H. Werkman, V. E. Nelson, and 1]. I. P'ulmer, J. Infectious Discase.H, 34, 447 



(1924). 

 *" P. Schmidt-Weyland and W. Koltzsch, Z. Hijy. Infekiionskrankh. 108, 199 (1928). 

 "♦ D. Perla and J. Mamorsten, Arch. Pathol. 23, 683 (1937). 



