Characteristics of ascorbic acid metabolism in scurvy-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat, SHR-od

SHR-od is a novel strain of rat that spontaneously develops hypertension and has a defect of ascorbic acid (AsA) biosynthesis. The osteogenic disorder Shionogi (ODS) rat is normotensive and also unable to synthesize AsA. To investigate whether or not genetic hypertension affects AsA metabolism, we compared the AsA metabolisms of SHR-od and ODS rats. In this study, a physiological dose of AsA equivalent to the AsA requirement in ODS rats was administered to rats intraperitoneally (i.p. group) or orally (oral group). We measured AsA concentrations in the serum, liver, kidney, adrenal glands, and spleen, and the amount of AsA excreted into the urine. At 25 wk of age (hypertensive status), the AsA concentrations of all tissues tested were significantly lower in SHR-od than in ODS rats in both the i.p. and oral groups. In the i.p. group, the amount of urinary AsA in SHR-od was also lower than that in ODS rats. At 4 wk of age (before the onset of hypertension), liver and spleen AsA concentrations in SHR-od were lower than those in ODS rats in both the i.p. and oral groups. Urinary AsA excretion from SHR-od was not different between the two groups. Our data suggest that the requirement for AsA in SHR-od is increased to maintain tissue AsA concentrations equivalent to those in ODS rats, and that a larger part of the AsA administered to rats in this study is degraded in SHR-od as compared to ODS rats.