Vitamin C and immunosuppression

Large daily doses of vitamin C resulted in severe lymphocytopenia in stressed mice. A characteristic biochemical expression of stress is an abrupt increase in adrenal corticosteroids in blood plasma which is always preceeded by a release of vitamin C by the adrenals. It is hypothesized that large doses of vitamin C maintain high levels of plasma corticosteroids which inturn may reduce the organism's immune response when stress is present.