Effect of Ascorbic Acid and Its Hydrophobic Derivative Palmitoyl Ascorbate on the Redox State of Primary Human Fibroblasts.

Ascorbic acid (AA) and its derivatives participate in vitro in oxidative-reductive reactions both as antioxidants and as prooxidants. The physiological relevance of these prooxidant effects of AA and its derivatives remains unclear. There is little evidence that AA can initiate formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or lipid peroxidation in cells or tissue. In order to examine the effect of AA and its derivative palmitoyl ascorbate on in situ intracellular ROS production and lipid peroxidation, 2('),7(')-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) and cis-parinaric acid were used as fluorescent probes in cultural neonatal foreskin fibroblasts. The results demonstrated that the effect of AA depended on the in vitro growth conditions. AA induced augmentation of the intracellular ROS concentration in newly plated (24 hours) cells. However, in cells cultured for 72 hours, AA had a different effect: it moderately reduced intracellular ROS concentration but stimulated lipid peroxidation in the cytoplasmic membrane. Palmitoyl ascorbate demonstrated significant inhibition of intracellular DCFH-DA oxidation presumably caused by inhibition of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase.