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Recycling processes of cellular ascorbate generate oxidative stress in pancreatic tissues in in vitro system

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Abstract

Ascorbate is a reducing agent, which is also known to oxidize cellular compoentns. Our proposed mechanism of the oxidative action is as follows: Ascorbate is concentrated in the pancreas and is leaked in adverse conditions, and oxidized to dehydroascorbate. The dehydroascorbate is carried into cells by a glucose transporter (GLUT) and reduced back to ascorbate. The reduction processes take electrons from other cellular components. Ascorbate or dehydroascorbate treatment elevated thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) concentrations in pancreas. The elevation in TBARS concentrations were blocked by cytochalasin B, a GLUT inhibitor. To confirm further the prooxidative action, changes in glutathione content were quantified. Glutathione concentrations were lower in ascorbate- or dehydroascorbate-treated groups. The ascorbate-induced decrease in glutathione was blocked by cytochalasin B. To prevent oxidation of ascorbate to dehydroascorbate, glutathione was added to the medium. The ascorbate plus glutathione and dehydroascorbate plus glutathione groups showed lower TBARS concentrations than those of the ascorbate and dehydroascorbate groups, respectively. There were changes in the morphology of Langerhans islets following ascorbate treatment, which disappeared following treatment with ascorbate plus cyto-chalasin B. The observations indicate that ascorbate generates oxidative stress and affects the structure of islets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Conrad Reifel

  2. Department of Physiology, Anesthesiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Murray Hong

  3. Department of Physiology, Botterell Hall, Queen’s University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Shelley Brown, Maria Georgatos, Jih H. Song &  Seon H. Shin

Authors
  1. Shelley Brown
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  2. Maria Georgatos
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  3. Conrad Reifel
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  4. Jih H. Song
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  5. Seon H. Shin
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  6. Murray Hong
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Correspondence to Seon H. Shin.

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Brown, S., Georgatos, M., Reifel, C. et al. Recycling processes of cellular ascorbate generate oxidative stress in pancreatic tissues in in vitro system. Endocr 18, 91–96 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1385/ENDO:18:1:91

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/ENDO:18:1:91

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