Research Paper Volume 8, Issue 3 pp 458—483

Figure 1. Impact of vitamin C (ascorbate) on the life span and the body weight of Gulo^−/− mice. (A) Percentage of disease-free animals with age. The number of animals in each group is indicated. Gulo^−/− mice were treated with the indicated concentration of ascorbate in drinking water from weaning until they had to be euthanized due to illness. Wild type mice were not treated with ascorbate. (B) Serum ascorbate levels in each indicated cohort (n=5 males at four months of age). (Tukey post ANOVA test **P < 0.01 compared to wild type and 0.4% treated Gulo^−/− mice). (C) Histogram showing the mean total body weight of each mouse cohort (n=6 males) at four month of age. (Tukey post ANOVA test **P < 0.01 compared to all other groups). (D) Histogram showing a significant visceral fat weight loss in ascorbate deficient Gulo^−/− mice (n=6 males) at four month of age. (Tukey post ANOVA test *P < 0.05 compared to all other groups). (B-D) Bars in all histograms represent SEM. One cohort of Gulo^−/− mice was treated with 0.01% of ascorbate (w/v) in drinking water from weaning to four months of age. A second cohort of Gulo^−/− mice was treated with 0.4% of ascorbate from weaning to four months of age. In a third cohort of Gulo^−/− mice, ascorbate was omitted from the drinking water at the age of three months for four weeks. Wild type mice were not treated with ascorbate.