Abstract
Summary
Vitamin C under certain conditions increased the resistance of guinea pigs to injection of 1 M.L.D. of a standardized diphtheria toxin. Injections of mixtures of toxin and vitamin C if the solutions had been in contact for 1 hour at room temperature before injection were less toxic. The guinea pigs that had survived these injections 5 to 7 weeks showed but slight if any immunity when tested by the injection of 2 M.L.D.'s of the toxin. Vitamin C caused no destruction of the antitoxic properties of antitoxin or of the slightly toxic toxin antitoxin mixture. Only clinical work can determine whether the increased resistance to diphtheria toxin shown by guinea pigs treated with vitamin C can be applied to human beings. While we were engaged in these experiments Dr. C. G. King told us that he and Dr. Bessey 2 were working in the same field and had also found a relationship between vitamin C and diphtheria toxin.
We wish to thank Mr. Andrew Mackey for his aid in carrying out the experiments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.