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Dietary restriction can effectively extend lifespan and retard many age-related debilities. One hypothesis to explain the beneficial effects of dietary restriction is that it prolongs maintenance of cellular homeostasis by limiting endogenous oxidative stress and preserves oxidative defense mechanisms during aging. Ascorbate, a primary antioxidant, may play a major role in preventing oxidative damage. Ascorbate levels were determined in dietary restricted (R) and control (C) Emory mice, a strain which develops age-related cataract due in part to oxidative damage to lens proteins. Mice which consumed a diet restricted by 40% in calories had lower ascorbate concentrations in plasma, liver and kidney. Nevertheless, R animals showed significantly delayed progression of cataract which extended over the entire second half of life. The R diet did not result in different ascorbate levels in this lens. Aging was associated with a decrease in ascorbate in all the examined tissues except lens of both the R and C groups. It is not clear from these data that ascorbate is a prominent factor in the delay of cataract formation or other debilities in R Emory mice. However, it also appears unlikely that lens ascorbate is cataractogenic.

Acetone is one of the most commonly used industrial solvents. Recent literature indicated that in guinea pigs, but not rabbits, acetone is cataractogenic and that elevated acetone exposure is also associated with depressed aqueous ascorbate levels. Other work indicated that aqueous and lens levels of ascorbate are closely linked and that depressed ascorbate status is related to cataract. Taken together, these papers suggested that acetone exposure, depressed ascorbate levels, and cataract are related, possibly causally. While the possibility that acetone is cataractogenic presented a major health concern, it also presented an opportunity to develop a new model of cataract in which hypotheses regarding anticataractogenic effects of ascorbate could be tested. Albino hairless guinea pigs are immunocompetent animals derived from albino Hartley guinea pigs. Animals were fed diets containing low (4.9 mg/day) and high (55 mg/day) levels of ascorbate. This resulted in distinct groups of animals, one with high tissue ascorbate levels and the other with low, but nonscorbutic ascorbate levels. The tissue levels of ascorbate and the relationship between tissue ascorbate levels and dietary intake indicate that with respect to ascorbate uptake, transport, and concentration, these animals are identical to the standard albino Hartley animals. Daily exposure to acetone was extended for 6 months, with a total applied dose of 65 ml. Absorption of the solvent was maximized by the use of hairless animals. Despite exposure of the animals to higher levels of acetone, in no case (n = 20) were cataracts observed over a 2-year period. This is consistent with results using rabbits.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Although Freund's adjuvant has been used for decades as an immune enhancer in rabbits, adverse physiologic side effects have prompted the search for more suitable alternatives. We used osteocalcin, a bovine bone protein (M.W. 5,800), as the test antigen to evaluate four adjuvant regimens: a) primary inoculation with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) followed by three boosts with incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA), b) four serial inoculations with RIBI MPL+TDM+CWS adjuvant, c) four serial inoculations with TiterMax #R-1, and d) primary inoculation (only) with TiterMax #R-1. The antibody yield associated with the CFA/IFA regimen (mean OD = 2.152) was at least sixfold that of either TiterMax (mean OD = 0.358) or RIBI (mean OD = 0.239) multiple injection regimens. No antibody response was observed after the single injection of TiterMax antigen emulsion. Maximal antibody production occurred rapidly in response to Freund's adjuvant (day 31) as compared with TiterMax (day 74) and RIBI (day 66).