Dietary intake of vitamin C attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced sepsis and septic inflammation in ODS rats.

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14923
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Horio Fumihiko 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 教授 (20165591)
• Research Collaborator: Murai Atsushi ; Kobayashi Misato
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ビタミンC / 大量投与 / 敗血症 / 救命効果 / 抗炎症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this study was to verify the protective effects of vitamin C (VC) against LPS-induced sepsis. The study was conducted using ODS rats, which are unable to synthesize VC. ODS rats were fed either an AsA-free diet (VC0 group), a diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg VC (VC300 group), or a diet supplemented with 3,000 mg/kg VC (VC3,000 group) for 8 days. On day 8, all the rats were intraperitoneally injected with LPS (15 mg/kg BW). Forty-eight hours after the injection, the survival rates of the rats in the VC300 (39%) and VC3,000 (61%) groups were significantly higher than that in the VC0 group (5.5%). Next, we measured several inflammatory parameters during 10 h after administering LPS. At 6 h, elevated serum levels of markers for hepatic injuries were suppressed in rats fed VC. The elevated serum concentrations of TNFα and IL-1β by LPS in the VC0 group decreased in groups fed VC.

Free Research Field

栄養生化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

VC欠乏時には肝臓を中心として炎症様変化が起こることを我々は以前から見出しており、VCの新たな機能として国際誌原著論文として社会に発進してきた。この成果から、VCが抗炎症作用を発揮することが推定されたが、それを証明した例は殆どなかった。本研究成果は、敗血症という炎症性疾患に対して高用量VC摂取が極めて有効な生存率改善効果と臓器障害抑制効果を有していることを初めて示すことができた。本研究の成果は、有効な改善薬の存在しない敗血症の発症時においてVC投与は安全な症状改善手段となる可能性を示している。