Disappearance of Vitamin C from Adrenals of Guinea Pigs Having Scurvy

Abstract

Szent-Gyorgyi 1 reported that the cortex of sliced beef adrenals turn dark when placed in a neutral 0.4% solution of silver nitrate and that the reducing substance is an hexuronic acid. King and Waugh 2 reported that the crystalline vitamin C which they isolated from lemon juice is identical with the hexuronic acid from adrenals obtained by Szent-Gyorgyi. We reported 3 that the cortex and medulla of sliced adrenals of normal guinea pigs turn dark in a neutral 0.4% solution of silver nitrate, but that the cortex from guinea pigs having scurvy does not darken under similar conditions. This confirms the conclusions of King and Waugh. We had observed the action of the adrenals in 6 normal guinea pigs and 6 with scurvy. We have increased this number to 42. We have investigated also the time required for the disappearance of vitamin C from the adrenals of guinea pigs on a scorbutic diet and the time for its reappearance in the adrenals when orange juice is added to the scorbutic diet. Recently Moore and Ray 4 have also reported that adrenals from guinea pigs having scurvy do not reduce neutral 0.4% silver nitrate, which confirms our first observation.

Twenty-five guinea pigs, weighing 150-180 gm., were fed oats and carrots for 8 days. On the eighth day, 2 were killed and the reducing power of their adrenals was noted. The remaining animals were fed the scorbutic diet of Sherman, LaMer, and Campbell. 5 Ten animals were killed at various intervals from 2 to 18 days of the diet period. The adrenals were removed, one from each animal was sliced and placed in a neutral 0.4% silver nitrate solution for IS minutes.