THE DETOXIFYING ACTION OF VITAMIN C (ASCORBIC ACID) IN ARSENICAL THERAPY

Abstract

The reduction of the toxic side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs is one of the major problems of chemotherapy. During the first period of the development of chemotherapy every effort was made to modify the chemical constitution of the products synthesized in order to increase their parasitotropic properties and to reduce their organotropic affinities. More recently it was found that the toxicity of some well established chemotherapeutic agents may be reduced by giving simultaneously certain other substances which produce a detoxifying effect. Ehrlich,¹ in one of his earliest papers on chemotherapy, pointed out that "reduction" is the most important chemical reaction in the detoxifying process of chemotherapeutic agents, especially the arsphenamines. Among the various substances recommended and applied as detoxifying agents, vitamin C (1-ascorbic acid) stands in a unique position. While most of the other substances are products foreign to the body, ascorbic acid is one of the most powerful