Ascorbic acid biological significance

Ascorbic acid commonly known as vitamin C, is one of the most important water soluble vitamins. Ascorbic acid is involved in many biological processes and it is an essential compound in the human diet [1]. The determination of ascorbic acid has gained increase significance in pharmaceutic, clinical, and food applications. So far, different methods have been developed for determination of ascorbic acid [2, 3]. 

Because of the clinical significance of vitamin C, it is essential to In-able to detect and quantify its presence in various biological materials. Ana lytical methods have been developed to determine the amount of ascorbic acid in foods and in biological fluids such as blood and urine. Ascorbic acid may be assayed by titration with iodine, reaction with 2,4-dinitrophenylhy-drazine, or titration with a redox indicator, 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCIP) in acid solution. The latter method will be used in this experiment because it is reasonably accurate, rapid, and convenient and can be applied to many different types of samples. 

Related to, but distinct from, metabolic substitution or replacement is metabolic enhancement where it is visualized that flavonoids could act syner-gistically with ascorbic acid. This would increase the biological potency of the acid but would not necessarily result in elevated concentrations of it in tissues. In areas where ascorbic acid has supposed metabolic involvement distinct from the simple prevention of scurvy, there is little evidence that flavonoids enhance or potentiate the ascorbic acid activity [80,81]. In a recent study of the influence of the acid on the incidence of the common cold in a group of 350 young persons, a daily dose of 80 mg synthetic ascorbic acid significantly depressed by 18% the number of symptoms recorded this too was the extent of the reduction in a parallel group on 80 mg of the acid as orange juice [59]. It would never ... 

General metabolic significance. Ascorbic acid participates in numerous biological events concerning electron transport reactions, hydroxylations, oxidative catabolism of aromatic amino acids one of the most important biologic redox systems (no coenzyme function). 

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