Metabolism of L-ascorbic acid in the prostate of normal and scorbutic guinea pigs.

Guinea pig prostate was found to actively participate in the biosynthesis and catabolism of ascorbic acid. The key ascorbic acid biosynthetic enzyme L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase and the other two lactonases were found to be present in guinea pig prostate. The activities of dehydroascorbatase and diketogulonate decarboxylase, the enzymes for ascorbic acid degradation, were also detected in guinea pig prostate. Male guinea pigs kept under scorbutic condition for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, were examined for prostatic metabolism of ascorbic acid. A significant but gradual decrease in the concentration of L-ascorbic acid was observed in prostate, total blood and leukocytes with the progression of scorbutic condition. There was an appreciable decrease in the rate of lipid peroxidation under the scorbutic condition. In the tissue fraction of scorbutic guinea pigs, the activities of biosynthesizing enzymes, measured in vitro, under optimum conditions were found to be higher with no significant alterations in the catabolizing enzymes. The implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.