The effect of ascorbic acid on experimental goitre

Abstract

Ascorbic acid in daily doses of 5, 20 and 50 mgm. for 3 wks. did not cause involution of hyperplastic thyroids produced in rabbits by feeding cabbage. Ascorbic acid in daily doses of 25 and 50 mgm. for 12 days did not prevent the occurrence or diminish the degree of thyroid hyperplasia in guinea pigs which received at the same time 8 daily injections of thyrotropic hormone of the anterior pituitary. In 6 guinea pigs with acute scurvy, there was no evidence of thyroid hyperplasia; in 5 of 12 guinea pigs with chronic scurvy there were varying degrees of hyperplasia but no significant thyroid enlargement. Ascorbic acid is not an antigoitrigenic substance.