Distribution of the Protective Factors for Vitamin C in Fractions of Liver Homogenates of the Rat

Abstract

IT has been reported by de Caro and Giani¹, Mawson² and Giri and Shouri³ that animal tissue extracts contain factors which protect vitamin C against oxidation. These protective factors were found to be of the nature of thiols¹. Mawson observed that liver extracts from which glutathione was removed by prolonged dialysis retained the protective properties of fresh extract and concluded that glutathione is not the only constituent responsible for the protective mechanism existing in animal tissues. Later, Giri and co-workers⁴ reported that certain purines such as xanthine, uric acid, adenine, guanin, theophylline and nucleic acids exert a protective action on vitamin C against oxidation. Since purines and nucleic acids are widely distributed in cells, it seemed of interest to find out the distribution of the protective factors for vitamin C in various fractions of liver homogenates, in the hope of gaining an insight into the nature of the factors responsible for the protective action.