Combined but not single administration of vitamin C and l-carnitine ameliorates cisplatin-induced gastric mucosa damage in male rats.

Although cisplatin is a potent anticancer drug, it instigates oxidative and pro-inflammatory reactions that pose significant and distressing clinical symptoms. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of vitamin C and (or) l-carnitine on cisplatin-induced gastric mucosa damage in rat. The rats were allocated into 6 groups (n = 5). The control group received distilled water, while the treatment groups received cisplatin alone (CIP), or cisplatin with vitamin C, l-carnitine, or their combination. Cisplatin caused disruption of the gastric mucosa histoarchitecture and altered the mucus barrier function. Moreover, the stomach tissue of the CIP-treated group showed increased levels of oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde and H2O2) and decreased activities of antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase) and non-antioxidant (reduced glutathione) enzymes. These deleterious events were accompanied with significant increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory infiltration markers, myeloperoxidase and inducible nitric oxide synthase. However, the administration of both vitamin C and l-carnitine, and not either of the two showed additive effects in attenuating the adverse effects of cisplatin. The histological results agreed with the biochemical assays. The study concluded that the combined administration of vitamin C and l-carnitine, but not the single therapy, could prevent the adverse effects of cisplatin on gastric tissue.

Serum ferritin level as an early indicator of metabolic dysregulation in young obese adults - a cross-sectional study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum ferritin level and antioxidative status and metabolic dysregulation in young adult obese population. This cross-sectional study included 300 subjects of either sex, grouped as obese and non-obese subjects. The body mass index, total iron binding capacity, fasting blood glucose, superoxide dismutase activity, and levels of serum ferritin, iron, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, glutathione, and vitamin C were estimated. Analysis showed a significant alteration in all the parameters in obese adults. The correlation of ferritin level and body mass index showed a positive correlation (r = -0.81, p < 0.001, respectively) with levels of fasting blood glucose, superoxide dismutase, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride in obese individuals, whereas an insignificant correlation with vitamin C and glutathione level was observed in obese individuals. The significant positive correlation of ferritin level with the metabolic parameters and some antioxidative parameters in obese individuals signifies the development of metabolic disorders. Therefore, estimation of serum ferritin level will be an important early indicator for the risk of developing metabolic disorders in young adults.

[Atypical scurvy associated with anorexia nervosa]. / Scorbut atypique associé à une anorexie mentale.

INTRODUCTION: Scurvy, or "Barlow's disease", is a widely described disease involving cutaneous and mucosal lesions resulting from vitamin C deficiency. Herein, we report a case of scurvy in a 48-year-old woman that was unusual in its atypical cutaneous-mucosal presentation as well as its association with anorexia nervosa. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A 48-year-old woman treated for depression for several years was admitted to hospital for her impaired general state of health. Over the last year, she had presented palmoplantar rash and episodes of perimalleolar oedema. The clinical examination showed the patient to have wasting syndrome, with a BMI of 11.9kg/m2, lower-limb oedema, palmoplantar fissures, geographic tongue, telogen effluvium and purpuric petechiae on her right knee. However, no gingival bleeding was noted and there was no loss of tooth enamel. The remainder of the clinical examination was normal. Blood tests revealed extremely low vitamin C levels without any other associated deficiencies, as well as laboratory signs of cytolysis and anicteric cholestasis without inflammatory syndrome. The diagnosis of anorexia nervosa was made by psychiatrists, despite the unusual age of onset. Favorable clinical outcome was rapidly achieved via a one-month course of vitamin C supplements at a daily dose of 1g. DISCUSSION: The absence of classical buccal-dental symptoms and the presence of keratotic dermatosis with fissures and ulcers on the hands and feet are atypical in scurvy; however, this diagnosis was confirmed by the existence of purpura evoking capillary fragility, the patient's drastically low vitamin C level and the rapid subsidence of symptoms following treatment with oral vitamin C alone. Anorexia nervosa was doubtless the cause of deficiency. This situation is rare and a systematic review of the literature in Medline via PubMed showed that only three reports of scurvy associated with mental anorexia have been published since 1975.

The unpaved journey of vitamin C in cancer treatment.

Effectiveness and low-toxicity to normal tissues are ideal properties for a cancer treatment, and one that numerous research programs are aiming for. Vitamin C has long been used in the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine as a cancer treatment, with profound safety and anecdotal efficacy. Recent studies revealed the scientific basis for this use, and indicated that vitamin C, at supra-nutritional doses, holds considerable promise as an effective and low-toxic therapeutic strategy to treat cancer. Reviewed here are the early controversies surrounding vitamin C and cancer treatment, the breakthrough discoveries that led to the current advancement, and recent clinical studies, as well as research into its mechanisms of action.

Synergistic protective role of mirazid (Commiphora molmol) and ascorbic acid against tilmicosin-induced cardiotoxicity in mice.

Tilmicosin (TIL) is a long-acting macrolide antibiotic approved for the treatment of cattle with Bovine Respiratory Disease. However, overdose of TIL has been reported to induce cardiotoxicity. The purpose of our experiment was to evaluate the protective effects of Commiphora molmol (mirazid (MRZ); myrrh) and (or) ascorbic acid (AA) against TIL-induced cardiotoxicity in mice. MRZ and AA were orally administered using stomach gavage, either alone or in combination for 5 consecutive days, followed with a single TIL overdose. TIL overdose induced a significant increase in serum levels of cardiac damage biomarkers (AST, LDH, CK, CK-MB, and cTnT), as well as cardiac lipid peroxidation, but cardiac levels of antioxidant biomarkers (GSH, SOD, CAT, and TAC) were decreased. Both MRZ and AA tended to normalize the elevated serum levels of cardiac injury biomarkers. Furthermore, MRZ and AA reduced TIL-induced lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress parameters. MRZ and AA combined produced a synergistic cardioprotective effect. We conclude that myrrh and (or) vitamin C administration minimizes the toxic effects of TIL through their free-radical-scavenging and potent antioxidant activities.

Collagen Peptides, in Association with Vitamin C, Sodium Hyaluronate, Manganese and Copper, as Part of the Rehabilitation Project in the Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Low back pain (LBP) is a frequent symptom. Among the causes that can determine it, lumbar osteoarthritis plays an important role. Therapeutic exercise, according to McKenzie method, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of LBP. Oral supplementation with collagen peptides represents a new therapeutic possibility in osteoarthritis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the combined efficacy of therapeutic exercise and oral administered viscosupplements in the treatment of osteoarthritis-related chronic LBP. METHODS: Sixty patients were recruited and randomly divided into two groups (Group A and B). Group A performed only kinesitherapy, Group B carried out the same kinesitherapy combined with the daily administration of food supplements such as Fortigel®, Vitamin C, sodium hyaluronate, manganese and copper, during the whole treatment period. Patients were evaluated at the time of recruitment (T0), at the end of the treatment (T1 - 3 weeks after T0) and 6 weeks after T1 (T2). The outcome measures used were: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Short Form-12 (SF-12). RESULTS: All the outcomes improved significantly at T1 in both groups, but more markedly in group B. Furthermore, in group A at T2, there was a statistically significant worsening in the scores of VAS, ODI and physical component of the SF-12, while in group B, this variation has not been detected. CONCLUSION: The combination of rehabilitation based on McKenzie back exercises and oral viscosupplementation with Fortigel®, Vitamin C, sodium hyaluronate, manganese and copper represents a valid option in patients with chronic LBP, as it ensures pain relief and improvement in the quality of life and in lumbar spine functionality. These therapeutic benefits are more evident and long-lasting compared to those obtained with rehabilitation alone.

[Scurvy presenting with low-extremity necrotic and purpuric ulcers: Two cases]. / Ulcères nécrotiques et purpuriques des membres inférieurs révélant un scorbut : à propos de deux observations.

BACKGROUND: Scurvy is a clinical syndrome resulting from ascorbic acid deficiency. Although presently rare in the developed world, it continues to occur within certain susceptible populations, particularly the elderly and those with dietary habits with low vitamin C intake. CASES: Two men aged 87 and 69 were referred with multifactorial, progressive ulceration of the lower limbs, without scarring, in a context of arterial disease and other associated comorbidities. In both cases, the level of vitamin C was undetectable. An improvement in the necrotic component and in the purpura was promptly observed after vitamin C supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of scurvy can be challenging. This report highlights the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for scurvy in atypical necrotic ulcerations of lower extremities with poor response to standard therapy especially in populations at high risk of vitamin C deficiency. Early diagnosis can improve patient prognosis.

Intra-articular effects of combined xenogenous serum rich in growth factors (SRGF) and vitamin C on histopathology grading and staging of osteoarthritis in rat model.

OBJECTIVE: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common degenerative diseases especially in the knee joint. The definitive method for the treatment of this disease is not known. In recent years, use of platelet-derived products has been considered as a new therapeutic approach because of its low cost, easy to use, and minimum side effects. Serum rich of growth factors (SRGF) is one of the biological compounds used to healing and regeneration. Its effects may improve in combination with antioxidants such as vitamin C. This vitamin increases the synthesis of proteoglycans by chondrocytes. The present study investigated effect of xenogenous SRGF in combination with vitamin C on the monosodium iodoacetate-induction osteoarthritis in rats. METHODS: Animals were randomly categorized into three groups including OA, SRGF, and vitamin C+SRGF. Treatments were performed with 3 time intra-articular injection in weekly intervals. Knee samples were taken after two weeks of the last treatment for histopathologic investigations. RESULTS: In the OA group, surface fibrillation and irregularity, multiple clefts, loss of chondrocytes, proteoglycan depletion with Toluidine blue staining were detected. In the treated group with SRGF/vitamin C, the severity of degenerative lesions was decreased. Chondrocytes had proliferated and matrix proteoglycan increased in compared to the SRGF and OA groups. Also, osteoarthritis stage was markedly reduced in this group rather than two other groups. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show the synergic effect of vitamin C and growth factors on accelerating articular repair.

Effect of strength training combined with antioxidant supplementation on muscular performance.

This was a placebo-controlled randomized study that aimed to investigate the effects of strength training (ST) combined with antioxidant supplementation on muscle performance and thickness. Forty-two women (age, 23.8 ± 2.7 years; body mass, 58.7 ± 11.0 kg; height, 1.63 ± 0.1 m) were allocated into 3 groups: vitamins (n = 15), placebo (n = 12), or control (n = 15). The vitamins and placebo groups underwent an ST program, twice a week, for 10 weeks. The vitamins group was supplemented with vitamins C (1 g/day) and E (400 IU/day) during the ST period. Before and after training, peak torque (PT) and total work (TW) were measured on an isokinetic dynamometer, and quadriceps muscle thickness (MT) was assessed by ultrasound. Mixed-factor ANOVA was used to analyze data and showed a significant group × time interaction for PT and TW. Both the vitamins (37.2 ± 5.4 to 40.3 ± 5.6 mm) and placebo (39.7 ± 5.2 to 42.5 ± 5.6 mm) groups increased MT after the intervention (P < 0.05) with no difference between them. The vitamins (146.0 ± 29.1 to 170.1 ± 30.3 N·m) and placebo (158.9 ± 22.4 to 182.7 ± 23.2 N·m) groups increased PT after training (P < 0.05) and PT was higher in the placebo compared with the control group (P = 0.01). The vitamins (2068.3 ± 401.2 to 2295.5 ± 426.8 J) and placebo (2165.1 ± 369.5 to 2480.8 ± 241.3 J) groups increased TW after training (P < 0.05) and TW was higher in the placebo compared with the control group (P = 0.01). Thus, chronic antioxidant supplementation may attenuate peak torque and total work improvement in young women after 10 weeks of ST.

[Vitamin C+sodium bicarbonate versus sodium bicarbonate alone in preventing contrast-induced nephropathy]. / Vitamine C+sérum bicarbonaté versus sérum bicarbonaté seul dans la prévention de la néphropathie induite par les produits de contraste.

INTRODUCTION: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a common and severe complication in interventional cardiology. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to compare the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy in two accelerated hydration protocols: the first one by the serum bicarbonate and the second combining the serum bicarbonate and oral vitamin C. METHODS: This is a multicenter prospective, randomized study conducted between October 2012 and May 2013, including 160 patients. RESULTS: The mean age of our study population was 60.8±9.3 years (36-83 years). The two study groups were comparable in terms of cardiovascular risk factors, concomitant medication, and baseline serum creatinine. The CIN incidence was 6.3% in the vitamin C group and 10% in the control group (P=0.38). No significant difference was observed in terms of CIN incidence between the different subgroups analyzed. CONCLUSION: According to our study, ascorbic acid administered orally as part of an accelerated hydration protocol does not reduce the incidence of CIN.

Ascorbic acid supplementation does not alter oxidative stress markers in healthy volunteers engaged in a supervised exercise program.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of ascorbic acid (AA) consumption on the oxidative stress status of untrained volunteers participating in a supervised exercise program. The study included 46 young adults (average age, 23.5 ± 0.59 years; 37 females, 9 males) who remained sedentary (n = 16) or participated in 30 min of outdoor aerobic running (n = 30) at an intensity corresponding to 65%-75% of maximum heart rate for 3 times per week for 12 weeks. Exercised subjects were randomly assigned to an exercise group without AA supplementation (control; n = 10) or received either 250 mg (n = 10) or 500 mg (n = 10) of AA supplementation previous to each exercise session. Blood samples were taken on day 0 and day 84 to evaluate metabolic profiles and antioxidant status. Sedentary subjects underwent in a single bout of aerobic running to determine total antioxidant status (TAS) and malondiadehyde (MDA) at pre- and postexercise with or without AA supplementation. No significant change in TAS was observed. Plasma MDA significantly increased at postexercise (P < 0.05), and AA supplementation decreased MDA level significantly (P < 0.05). After 3 months of exercise, there was no significant change in blood glucose, lipid profile, MDA, TAS, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase activities amongst groups. Supplementation of AA was associated with minor and inconsistent reductions in SOD, GPx, and catalase activities (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that pre-exercise supplementation of ascorbic acid does not alter oxidative stress markers in the plasma and erythrocytes of young adults engaged in a supervised exercise program.

Free radicals quenching potential, protective properties against oxidative mediated ion toxicity and HPLC phenolic profile of a Cameroonian spice: Piper guineensis.

Considerations on antioxidants derived from plants have continuously increased during this decade because of their beneficial effects on human health. In the present study we investigated the free radical scavenging properties of extracts from Piper guineense (P. guineense) and their inhibitory potentials against oxidative mediated ion toxicity. The free radical quenching properties of the extracts against [1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS•), hydroxyl radical (HO•), nitric oxide (NO•)] radical and their antioxidant potentials by FRAP and phosphomolybdenum were determined as well as their protective properties on liver enzymes. The phenolic profile was also investigated by HPLC. The results obtained, revealed that the extracts significantly inhibited the DPPH, NO, HO and ABTS radicals in a concentration depending manner. They also showed a significant ferrous ion chelating ability through FRAP and phosphomolybdenum antioxidant potential. Their polyphenol contents varied depending on the type of extracts and the solvent used. The hydroethanolic extracts (FFH) and the ethanolic extracts (FFE) of P. guineense leaves showed the higher level of phenolic compounds respectively of 21.62 ± 0.06 mg caffeic acid/g dried extract (CAE/g DE) and 19.01 ± 0.03 CAE/g DE. The HPLC phenolic compounds profile revealed a higher quantity of Eugenol, quercetin, rutin and catechin in the stem than in the leaves. The presence of these molecules could be responsible of the protective potentials of P. guineense extracts against lipid peroxidation and SOD, catalase and peroxidase. In conclusion, P. guineense extracts demonstrated significant antioxidant property and may be used as a prospective protector against metal related toxicity.

A highly sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method for the determination of ascorbic Acid in pharmaceutical samples.

In this study, a new reaction system for quantitative determination of ascorbic acid was introduced. The developed method is based on inhibitory effect of ascorbic acid on the Orange G-bromate system. The change in absorbance was followed spectrophotometrically at 478 nm. The dependence of sensitivity on the reaction variables including reagents concentration, temperature and time was investigated. Under optimum experimental conditions, calibration curve was linear over the range 0.7 - 33.5 µg mL(-1) of ascorbic acid including two linear segments and the relative standard deviations (n = 6) for 5.0 and 20.0 µg mL(-1) of ascorbic acid were 1.08 and 1.02%, respectively. The limit of detection was 0.21 µg mL(-) (1) of ascorbic acid. The effect of diverse species was also investigated. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceutical samples. The results were in a good agreement with those of reference method.

Effects of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol on the therapeutic index of amphotericin B.

Amphotericin B (AmB) remains the antifungal polyene of choice in deep fungal infections, but its high toxicity to mammalian cells limits its use. This toxicity is partly due to lipid peroxidation exerted by amphotericin B in cell membranes. The work we have undertaken focused on the one part the evaluation of the efficacy of amphotericin B in the presence of some antioxidants vitamins (vitamin C "ascorbic acid" and vitamin E "α-tocopherol") against the yeast Candida albicans ATCC 10231. Secondly, we have tested the cytotoxicity of these formulations on human red blood cells. The results showed a significant improvement in the efficiency of our formulations tested from 7% to 12% compared with amphotericin B alone at therapeutic concentrations. Furthermore, the addition of vitamin C and vitamin E protects human red blood cells against the cytotoxicity induced by amphotericin B with 17%. This is due may be to the antioxidant power of vitamins which confer protection against the autoxidation of the molecule of amphotericin B. On the other hand, it is noticed that the yeast regrows after 24h whatever in complex with vitamin C or vitamin E of the stock solution. On completion of this study, the incorporation of antioxidant vitamins that we propose to the reaction medium of antifungal improved the therapeutic index of amphotericin B.