Cellular responses to high ascorbic acid intake by normally nourished and undernourished mice

Swiss albino mice were reared in litters of 8 or 14 pups each to produce normally nourished or undernourished pups, respectively. Litter size was maintained 26 days postnatally when several mice were sacrificed. The undernourished mice weighed less and had lower ascorbic acid contents in their livers and adrenals than normally nourished mice. They also had lighter brains, livers, and kidneys, and fewer cells (DNA) in those tissues. Animals remaining in both size litters were allowed free access to a stock diet and either untreated drinking water or drinking water containing 250 mg ascorbic acid per 100 ml for 28 days, when they were sacrificed. Suplementary ascorbic acid had no effect on cell number (DNA) or cell size (protein/DNA) in tissues of either normally nourished or early undernourished mice. Undernourished mice, however, retained fewer cells in their tissues than normally nourished mice.