Stability of Ascorbic Acid in Total Parenteral Nutrition Solutions

Abstract

The stability of ascorbic acid (AsA) in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solutions was investigated by using high performance liquid chromatography. In the study, a multiple vitamin injection set (PV-123) was used as a source of AsA. This set contains 13 different kinds of vitamins and the amount of AsA is 100mg/set. Although AsA was oxidized markedly to dehydroascorbic acid in electrolyte infusion solution, it was rather stable in TPN solutions exposed to indoor diffused light (2, 000lux, 6hrs.). Especially, AsA in PV-123 was significantly stable in the certain TPN solutions even after the addition of trace element injection for TPN (IVH-M2). Such an effect suggested that the certain TPN solutions contain the antioxidizing agent and have the low amount of partial oxygen dissolved.AsA in TPN solutions, which were stored in refrigerator for 1 week, was kept almost stable. However, the residual amount of AsA reduced fairly after 7 days on the addition of IVH-M2 to these solutions.Multivitamin injections, which contain B1, B6, B12, are added frequently, with AsA, to electrolyte infusion solutions. AsA was degraded by hydroxocobalamin, but was stable in the presence of cyanocobalamin in infusion solution. Multivitamin injections did not significantly influence on the stability of AsA in TPN solutions when stored in refrigerator.