Vitamin C deficiency and susceptibility to endotoxin shock in guinea pigs
Fuller, R.N.; Henson, E.C.; Shannon, E.L.; Collins, A.D.; Brunson, J.G.
Archives of Pathology 92(4): 239-243
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0363-0153 PMID: 4937534 Document Number: 35144
Male and female guineapigs, 7 to 9 or 14 to 16 weeks old, were fed on a control or a vitamin C-deficient diet for 34 days before injection of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide B endotoxin, 0.5 mg/kg, a sublethal dose for controls. All the scorbutic animals showed severe clinical shook with prostration and bloody diarrhoea; 19 of 26 died within 1 h and a further 3 within 18 h. Of 20 controls, only 4 died and a further 2 showed clinical shock.