Measurement of reduced, oxidized and total ascorbate content in plants

Ascorbate is one of the major antioxidant metabolites in plant tissues. This protocol describes a microplate-adapted colorimetric ascorbate assay, in which ferric ion is reduced by ascorbate to the ferrous ion. The ferrous ion reacts with alpha-alpha'-bipyridl to form a complex with characteristic absorbance at 525 nm. With the chemical reduction of any dehydroascorbate (DHA) in a sample, total ascorbate can be assayed using the alpha-alpha'-bipyridl method, and DHA can be estimated by subtracting the reduced portion from the total ascorbate pool. The assay is performed in microcentrifuge tubes and assessed in a 96-well plate reader. Reduced ascorbate, DHA and total ascorbate of at least 64 experimental samples can be analyzed easily in 1 d.