The effect of vitamin C deficiency on the aorta of the guinea Pig

Abstract

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid (AA) deficiency is probably one of the many risk factors involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis [ 1,2]. Guinea pigs exposed to prolonged latent AA deficiency exhibited atheromatous plaques in their coronary arteries [3]. Changes in vessel wall metabolism, manifesting themselves by altered activity of the key enzymes of the basic metabolic cycles, are thought to indicate the disposition of cholesterol deposits on the arterial wall (41. AA deficiency is also thought to damage the collagenous structures of the vascular wall.