Antiscorbutic substance

Paprika was imported to European countries from the Far East such as China and India. The first blossoming of paprika in science was in 1930 when the Nobel Prize winner, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi of Hungary discovered vitamin P (mixture of flavonoids hesperidin and rutin) with the antiscorbutic substance ascorbic acid, vitamin C [1-3]. 

G9. Gould, B. S., and Shwachman, H., A new method for the bioassay of antiscorbutic substances. Assays of dehydroascorbic acid, 2 keto-gulonic acid, iron ascorbate, and the effectiveness of oral and parenteral administration of ascorbic acid. 

Antiscorbutic Substance that prevents scurvy, usually one that contains vitamin C. 

Even during World War I, Lobmayer claimed that the Turkish soldiers suffered severely from scurvy and that in those who developed the disease both skin and flesh wounds and fractures healed poorly. In many cases the fractures showed not the slightest sign of the formation of a callus, even after several months. In confirmation of the fact that it was lack of the antiscorbutic substance which was directly responsible for this failure of fractures to unite, he quoted two cases who suffered from pseudoarthrosis of the humerus and who recovered rapidly and completely as soon as they were put on a diet which was rich in antiscorbutic material. 

The most significant chemical characteristic of L-ascorbic acid (1) is its oxidation to dehydro-L-ascorbic acid (L-// fi (9-2,3-hexodiulosonic acid y-lactone) (3) (Fig. 1). Vitamin C is a redox system containing at least three substances L-ascorbic acid, monodehydro-L-ascorbic acid, and dehydro-L-ascorbic acid. Dehydro-L-ascorbic acid and the intermediate product of the oxidation, the monodehydro-L-ascorbic acid free radical (2), have antiscorbutic activity equal to L-ascorbic acid. 

This synthesis was the first step toward industrial vitamin production, which began in 1936. The synthetic product was shown to have the same biological activity as the natural substance. It is reversibly oxidized in the body to dehydro-L-ascorbic acid (3) (L-// fi (9-2,3-hexodiulosonic acid y-lactone), a potent antiscorbutic agent with hiU vitamin activity. In 1937, Haworth and Szent-Gyn rgyi received the Nobel Prize for their work on vitamin C. 

The antiscorbutic factor of fresh fruits, which prevents the development of the typical symptoms of scurvy in humans, is a carbohydrate derivative known as vitamin C or ascorbic acid. This substance is not a carboxylic acid, but a lactone, and owes its acidic properties (and ease of oxidation) to the presence of an enediol grouping. It belongs to the l series by the glyceraldehyde convention ... 

Lack or deficiency of a V., as a result of unbalanced nutrition, leads to charaeteristic metabolic disturbances. Complete absenee of a V. leads to avitaminosis, with typical clinical symptoms. Relative deficiency of a V. causes hypovitaminosis. Such conditions are reversible by administration of the appropriate V. Excessive intake of certain V, e.g. V.A or V.D, can lead to hypervitaminosis. Formerly, V. were named after the diseases they cured, e.g. antiscorbutic V., antirachitic V, antiberiberi factor. Not all V., however, have such a pronounced specificity, and the clinical pictures of many avitaminoses and hypovitaminoses are complex and variable. A nomenclature based on letters of the alphabet was developed simultaneously the designations A, B, C, D and E were applied in the historical order of discovery. Subscripts were applied as more refined chemical analysis revealed that the originally isolated substances were in fact complex mixtures. This was especially true for the B vitamins. Partly because of confusion over the B complex , trivial names which give an indication of the chemical structure of the V. (e.g. pyridoxine or pyiidoxol for V.B() are now preferred. 

Vitamin C—also called ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, hexuronic acid, and the antiscorbutic vitamin—is the very important substance, first found in citrus fruits, which prevents scurvy, one of the oldest scourges of mankind. All animal species appear to require vitamin C, but a dietary need is limited to humans, guinea pigs, monkeys, bats, certain fish, and perhaps certain reptiles. These species lack the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase which is necessary for vitamin C synthesis from 6-carbon sugars. 

---