Excess Ascorbate is a Chemical Stress Agent against Proteins and Cells

Excess Ascorbate is a Chemical Stress Agent against Proteins and Cells

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu, Augustin C. Mot, Emese Gál, Eva Fischer Fodor, Florina Scurtu, Alina Matei, Maria Lehene, Niculina D. Hădade

Excess ascorbate (as expected in intravenous treatment proposed for COVID-19 management, for example) oxidizes and/or degrades hemoglobin and albumin, as evidenced by UV-vis spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry. It also degrades hemoglobin in intact blood or in isolated erythrocytes. The survival rates and metabolic activities of several leukocyte subsets implicated in the antiviral cellular immune response are also affected. Excess ascorbate is thus an unselective biological stress agent.

2020

Antioxidant, albumin, hemoglobin, ascorbate, leukocyte, erythrocyte

DOI: 10.3390/ph13060107

Pharmaceuticals

MDPI AG

Pharmacy and materia medica