340 ASCORBIC ACID 



bodies/^^-^^^ However, Naccari^^^ found no such effects of the vitamin. He 

 studied the influence of ascorbic acid on the bactericidal potency of whole 

 blood and found that, in rabbits supplied with 50 mg. of ascorbic acid daily 

 for 6 days, the whole blood showed no changes in bacterial action against 

 Streptococci, Staphylococci, Diplococci, S. paratyphi B, E. typhi, and E. coli. 

 He concluded that the intrinsic bactericidal potency of the blood has little 

 importance as an indicator of immunity. Spink et al}-"^ studied the relation 

 of ascorbic acid to human complement and found that neither in vitro nor 

 in vivo addition of ascorbic acid to serum deficient in the vitamin produced 

 any change in the complement titer. In another report"*®"^ these investigators 

 observed the effect of ascorbic acid upon the bactericidal action of human 

 blood with the vitamin injected intravenously into ascorbic acid-deficient 

 subjects. It did not cause an increase in the bactericidal action of whole 

 blood for coagulase-negative Staphylococci or in the bactericidal titer of 

 serum for E. coli and E. typhosa. Furthermore, they found that complete 

 oxidation of ascorbic acid by copper did not decrease the bactericidal action 

 of normal human serum for E. coli, E. typhosa, and Shigella par ady sent eriae 

 Flexner. Perla and Mamorsten'**^ stated that it would appear that alterations 

 in natural resistance in scurvy are pro])ably independent of any interference 

 in the production of immune antibodies or in the availability of so-called 

 natural antibodies as opsonins, bacteriolysins, and complement. The usual 

 practice has been to relate the immunological relations of the vitamin to its 

 level in the plasma. Possibly a closer approach would be to relate the reac- 

 tions to the higher and less fluctuating level in the leucocytes. A recent 

 report by Long^^^ suggests that a modification of the conclusion of Perla 

 and Mamorsten may be necessary. He found a lower level of serum anti- 

 toxin in guinea pigs maintained on a diet very low in ascorbic acid as com- 

 pared to normal controls. Three groups of fifteen animals each were used 

 (350 g. wt.); one group received unlimited cabbage, another received 5 mg. 

 ascorbic acid three times weekly, and the third group had no supplement. 

 The animals all grew equally well with no signs of scurvy at autopsy. On the 

 thirty-fifth day an injection of diphtheria toxoid was made. Again on the 

 sixty-third day graded doses of diphtheria toxin were injected subcutane- 

 ously and the diameter of the inflammatory lesion measured after 24 hours. 

 Only slight differences were seen in the three groups, but 7 days later an- 



"s J. H. Jusatz, Z. Immunitalsforsch. 88, 472, 483 (1936). 



«« R. R. Madison and W. H. Manwaring, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 37, 402 (1937). 



■»" T. Izutumi and I. {'awai, Japan. Z. Microbiol, u. Pathol. 33, 175 (1939). 



"8 E. E. Ecker, L. Pillemer, J. J. Griffitts, and W. P. Schwartz, /. Am. Med. Assoc. 



112, 1449 (1939). 

 "9 A. Naccari, Boll. ist. sieroterap. milan. 20, 161 (1941); Chem. Zentr. 1, 1394 (1942). 

 460 w. W. Spink, S. Agnew, O. Mickelsen, and L. M. Dahl, J. Immunol. 44, 303 (1942). 

 "1 D. A. Long, Brit. J. Exptl. Pathol. 31, 183 (1950). 



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