Vitamin C Function in the Brain: Vital Role of the Ascorbate Transporter (SVCT2)
By F. Harrison, J. M. May. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 2009
659 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Ascorbate (vitamin C) is a vital antioxidant molecule in the brain. However, it also has a number of other important functions, participating as a co-factor in several enzyme reactions including catecholamine synthesis, collagen production and regulation of HIF-1α. Ascorbate is transported into the brain and neurons via the Sodium-dependent Vitamin C Transporter-2 (SVCT2), which causes accumulation of ascorbate within cells against a concentration gradient. Dehydroascorbic acid, the oxidized form of ascorbate, is transported via glucose transporters of the GLUT family. Once in cells, it is rapidly reduced to ascorbate. The highest concentrations of ascorbate in the body are found in the brain and neuroendocrine tissues such as adrenal, although the brain is the most difficult organ to deplete of ascorbate. Combined with regional asymmetry in ascorbate distribution within different brain areas, these facts suggest an important role for ascorbate in the brain. Ascorbate is proposed as a neuromodulator of glutamatergic, dopaminergic, cholinergic and GABAergic transmission and related behaviors. Neurodegenerative diseases typically involve high levels of oxidative stress and thus ascorbate has been posited to have potential therapeutic roles against ischemic stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntingdon's disease.
Subfields: Nutrition and Dietetics, Pathology and Forensic Medicine
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/459a9cc64abe227771c2769be15b05e67f64fc53
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Citations in the corpus
- Hybrid carbon based nanomaterials for electrochemical detection of biomolecules (2017, background): “309 ± 47 lg/g n = 3, substantia nigra, control, 271 ± 15 lg/g n = 3, substantia nigra, Parkinson’s Disease, postmortem human Ascorbic acid Antioxidating agent, co-factor on catecholamine synthesis reactions, collagen production and regulation of HIF-1a Y 200 [265,279,280]”
- Vitamins C and E: Beneficial effects from a mechanistic perspective (2011, background): “Harrison and May [85] have recently reviewed the cellular uptake, recycling, and neuroprotective functions of vitamin C in the brain.”