Effects of ascorbic acid and its 2-sulfate on rabbit aortic intimal thickening.

Effects of intravenously injected L-ascorbic acid or L=ascorbic acid 2-sulfate on aortic intimal thickening were examined histologically, qualitatively, and quantitatively in the upper, middle and lower thoracic aortic positions of cholesterol-induced atherosclerotic rabbits. A means of evaluating the degree of pathology of the aortic positions was developed employing five descriptive statistics of intimal thickening. Both L-ascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid 2-sulfate inhibited intimal thickening. The most significant reductions were observed in the upper thoracic aorta.