Subcellular ascorbic acid in scorbutic guinea pig brain.

In scorbutic guinea pigs fed an ascorbic acid-deficient diet for 18 days, the ascorbic acid contents of the liver and plasma were less than 4% those of the control animals, while the content in the brain was about one-third that of the controls. In normal animals, the concentration of ascrobic acid was highest (7.55 +/- 1.46 micrograms of ascorbic acid/mg protein) in the S3 fraction and was also fairly high (5.37 +/- 0.91) in the P2p fraction (cytoplasm of nerve terminals). During ascorbic acid deficiency, the contents in the P2p and microsome fractions decreased slightly faster than those in other fractions. Even after 18 days' deficiency, no significant change was found in the acetylcholine content of the brain.