gM 500 Wau axp Fronuax: Ascommc Ac ASCORBIC ACID CONTENT OF HUMAN ABTERIAL TISSUE? ©. ©. WILLIS, MD. and 5. FISHMAN, PRD, Montreal Frost ‘nmr mie oF VincHow it hax been eon sidered by pathologists that the earlicst demon strable lesion in atherosclerasis is sn alteration ef the ground substance of the arterial in- tims," This concept has been based upon the finding of metachromasia of the ground sub- stance and upan the fact that lipid is deposited in the ground substance. Approaching the sub- ject in a different way. we have shown that the ground substance disturbunce resulting from asearhie: aeisk doBeieney in the ghinca-pig is accompanied by arterial lesions morphologically typical of athesosclerasis.* We have found that wscmbic acid given parenterally excrts a marked inhibitory cect upon the development of athero- sclesmsix induced by cholesteral feeding in the uinea-pic The grinned stbstance depends on ascetic acid for ity furmation® and under conditions of asenrhie acid depletion the ground. substance sindetzes depulymerization Because of the infucnew of aseurhie acid upan atherosclerosis fy the socineaspig, It was decided ta determine the sscurtie weld content of husna arteries wmler arias ciretnstiners, and thus study the metse Vastisnn uf asterial gravind substance Mamma aso Mitmans Ascathie weid wn measured in arteries from the felloaing tne soups af eases: Uy Cases uf staklon death. 42) Routine huapttil antoper Casey treated i hospital with Lier varios lonaths of vine prior to arteries were removed as soon as possible iter death, ft hay already bee denenstrated fhat the decrease in the ascorbic avid content of Auanan tissmey & very slighe during the Bist 24 ours! and this hay been our experience also, SUE tera Hepes 2 SES ah eral ate mre cus sete stayed team ety SOR Se GEG OB. Bad ct Sih Such Wen US 2B, a Rae som pe rare a Ry ears Be Seon worn & at the Monte rr Venoeana Alter carefully removing. the adventitia arteries (the prowimal 4 or 5 cv of the descending Eee ee ce sie crs containing 4 measured asl & w 20% selucce ol idhed ach) G2 melaptespine aid and Tee Gichioracebe eid) ‘and weighed The Same was them ground te 4. poip m & porcelain mortar sod rubs fou Water wis adued vo bring Dre coneentabou of ao) ts Se, Lavally abost 8 gm. ef Ssowe was oh Bak of the mised acid’ and dlveed to 40 mi. with afer, er plonuan mises, Sts ‘pea Gameckatey Bhcres ee tontploped I wer feud at Senchlcs fawn of pene ee igtaars jeg enue elas Bese Ciaruct was stil clondy after Altsation, a further extrac: tian tu ether wall helped enh The Sesomcat Sayan echt iatentee Sidhe Susy of sore Nad a dnb blow ‘The uscwbie aad was determined ithe aid erat of We Hsu ne arid Ses Sine td Bue torthe diternisatien plas ass Te is pray standardized, exam sete buffered solution of dichloropheno! indophenal is added a sou oF the Bluse ane ale 0 econ the Sects ‘udiabed” tye delerined. inthe Eveles Eiseintey The exces of de prepomional foe Scum af auc acid ia the lste, The edit Steve mage att» Hank idtca) wi Ore tse se on in all respeets except for the absence of the dye. ‘Ovcasionilly, the acid extract of calcified arteries yinlded 3 previpstite of calciom phosphate on the déb= ti volt aeeutedse taledoe, Tig ooesatd 4 prelininar, removal of the caleium salts from the $luuic by neutralization with sodium acetate. “Te aclu aie conn! ofthe atte expensed a ingame atosbis ae per 100 pn Poh Bae. Rescurs : The results in the three groups are given in Tables I, Tl and IN, The values for aseurbie acid in the arteries in Table 1 indicate the levels which may be foie iu sudkles: death fromm naturel and violent causes. In comparison it will be noted that the ascorbic acid coutent of arleries from patients dying after various iinesses as shown in Table His for the most pur considerbly lower, In sevens of Hit 20 cases fn this group, no ascorbic acid wt all was found in the arteries. In the older luge grnuips the depletion tended to be particu- larly marked, Two cases were studied in which w urtery was thrombosed (Nos. 31 and $4). There was v0 ascorbic acid in the arterial wall in either instance. Ascorbic acid depletion is often found in a segmental distribution in arteries. Thus, for ex ample, the intemal carotid artery usually has a higher ascorbic acid content than the adjacent “carotid sinus. The results in Table I suggest that it is po sible to replace the ascorbic acid deficiency of arteries by ascorbic acid therapy prior to death.