The Effect of Organic Compounds upon Vitamin C Synthesis in the Rat*

A continued investigation of pure substances which accelerate vitamin C synthesis and excretion in rats (1, 2) has shown that several new series of compounds are as active as the terpene-like substances reported previously. Individual compounds in the new series, many of which are widely used clinically and in experimental work, are much more active than any of the compounds referred to in earlier reports. Although the very active substances differ greatly in chemical structure, they have an interesting common characteristic in ~i2r0, functioning as nerve depressants. Among the most active compounds are four series of anesthetics (barbituric acid derivatives, polymeric aldehydes, sulfonemethanes, and halogenated aliphatic compounds) and two antipyretics, aminopyrine and antipyrine. Many of the bactericidal agents such as sulfapyridine, salicylates, and phenols are active to a much less degree. The more active compounds cause the animals to excrete from 10 to several hundred times more vitamin C than would otherwise be excreted on a given diet. In view of the fact that without any intake the quantities excreted each day are far in excess of the total body stores, the phenomenon obviously involves an increased rate of synthesis unless one postulates a normal very rapid turnover (synthesis and disposal) that might be blocked at the second step with resultant accumulation of the ascorbic acid.