The Chemistry of the Silver Precipitation method Used for the Histochemical Localizgtion of Ascorbic Acid

The usefulness of reductive silver precipitation for the histo chemical localization of assorbic acid in mouse lung has been examined under standard conditions. The estimated stoichiometry of the reaction shows that only one quarter of the silver precipitated in fresh tissue by the silver nitrate reagent was due to ascorbic acid. Although no evidence was found that diffusion of ascorbic acid proceeded more rapidly than reductive silver precipitation in the tissue, diffusion artifacts at the cellular led would seem likely to occur. Thiosulphate was shown to be more effective than ammonia m removing un reacted silver from tissues treated with silver nitrate.