Kodama M, Kodama T, Murakami M, Kodama M
Kodama Research Institute of Preventive Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
In Vivo. 1994 Mar-Apr;8(2):251-7.
The present study was started to investigate the problem of whether or not vitamin C administration may help control autoimmune disease and allergy by stimulating the glucocorticoid mechanism of a patient with an immune disorder. Our study was expected to give an answer to the long-lasting enigma of endocrinology--why is the adrenal cortex so rich in the vitamin C content? Our investigation represents the complex of experimental and clinical study. A healthy male volunteer served as the test subject in the experimental study, and we investigated the effect of vitamin C injection or infusion treatments on the eosinophil count and 5 plasma steroids in plasma on the one hand, and also tested the effect of vitamin C treatments on diuresis and 17-hydroxycorticoids (17-OHCS) excretion on the other hand. In the clinical study, the effect of the vitamin C infusion treatment on immune disorders was assessed in 4 patients with autoimmune disease. Results obtained are as follows: 1) the vitamin C injection or infusion treatments induced an increase of plasma glucocorticoid activity with a delay of about 2 hours, as assessed in terms of the eosinophil count and plasma cortisol concentration. 2) Within 2 hours after vitamin C challenge, however, a remarkable decline of plasma cortisol was found to proceed without any corresponding change of the eosinophil count, a finding to suggest the presence of some cortisol absorber, of which the function was triggered by vitamin C. 3) The same vitamin C treatments also accelerated diuresis and 17-OHCS excretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
本研究旨在探讨给予维生素C是否有助于通过刺激免疫功能紊乱患者的糖皮质激素机制来控制自身免疫性疾病和过敏。我们的研究有望解答内分泌学中一个长期存在的谜题——为什么肾上腺皮质富含维生素C？我们的调查代表了实验研究和临床研究的综合。在实验研究中，一名健康男性志愿者作为受试对象，一方面，我们研究了维生素C注射或输注治疗对嗜酸性粒细胞计数和血浆中5种血浆类固醇的影响，另一方面，也测试了维生素C治疗对利尿和17-羟皮质类固醇（17-OHCS）排泄的影响。在临床研究中，评估了维生素C输注治疗对4例自身免疫性疾病患者免疫功能紊乱的影响。得到的结果如下：1） 根据嗜酸性粒细胞计数和血浆皮质醇浓度评估，维生素C注射或输注治疗导致血浆糖皮质激素活性增加，延迟约2小时。2） 然而，在维生素C激发后2小时内，发现血浆皮质醇显著下降，而嗜酸性粒细胞计数没有任何相应变化，这一发现表明存在某种皮质醇吸收剂，其功能由维生素C触发。3） 相同的维生素C治疗也加速了利尿和17-OHCS排泄。（摘要截短于250字）
