THE DISTRIBUTION OF ASCORBIC ACID IN THE BLOOD

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Abstract
A study of the distr. of ascorbic acid in the blood in 50 fasting healthy human subjects, 50 hospitalized fasting patients suffering serious illness and 52 non-fasted guinea pigs was made. In the healthy human subjects the following was observed: At whole blood levels of ascorbic acid below 0.6 mg./100 ml., the plasma content was lower than the whole blood content; at whole blood levels about 0.6-0.9 mg./lOO ml., the concn. in the plasma was approx. the same as in the whole blood; at whole blood levels above 0.9 mg./lOO ml., the plasma content was higher than the whole blood content. The same pattern of distr. of ascorbic acid between the plasma and the whole blood was observed in the non-fasted guinea pigs. In the hospitalized fasting patients, the conc. of ascorbic acid in the plasma was lower than that in the whole blood in all instances. It is suggested that in normal subjects, the change in the ratio of the ascorbic acid in the plasma to that in the whole blood is due to a parallel variation in the intake of ascorbic acid. In patients with serious illness, the pattern of distr. of ascorbic acid in blood is detd. by both the intake of ascorbic acid and the underlying pathologic processes.