Regulation of ascorbic acid concentration in embryonic chick brain

The relationship between ascorbic acid concentration and cellular transport mechanisms was studied in chicken embryos (Gallus gallus domesticus). Unincubated (Day 0) fertile eggs did not contain detectable levels of ascorbic acid as assayed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. However, ascorbic acid concentration in brain increased to 5.6 nmol/mg tissue by Day 10 in ovo and then gradually declined 32% before birth. These levels were an order of magnitude greater than in skeletal muscle, where ascorbic acid concentration decreased sixfold between Days 8-20. Uptake of ascorbic acid was measured in brain cells that were either freshly isolated or grown in primary culture. Saturable, temperature- and Na⁺-dependent ascorbic acid transport was evident in freshly isolated cells as early as Day 6 and persisted throughout the period of ontogenic development. Primary cultures of embryonic chick brain cells were observed to take up ascorbic acid through a high-affinity (apparent K_m = 37 μM, V_max = 106 nmol ascorbic acid/g protein/min) mechanism. This transport system may maintain the high concentrations of ascorbic acid observed in the central nervous system during the ontogenic period when the levels of ascorbic acid in peripheral tissues change drastically.