Hopes, disillusions and more hopes from vitamin C.

In the current view of most biochemists and physiologists, the role of L-ascorbic acid (AA) in cell metabolism would be more or less confined to the scavenging of reactive oxygen species. Nevertheless, many data have been collected in our and other laboratories concerning the involvement of AA in many different aspects of cell metabolism. At the present time the molecular sites of action of AA have not been completely elucidated, but recent findings on the specific requirement of AA for the activity of several 2-oxoacid-dependent dioxygenases involved in cell signalling and the activation of transcription factors open new fascinating perspectives for further research.