Antioxidant-Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is a monosaccharide oxidation-reduction catalyst in plants and animals. During the evolution of primates, mutations caused the loss of an enzyme necessary for the synthesis of vitamin C in the body, so humans must take vitamin C from the diet. Most other animals have the function of synthesizing vitamin C in the body and do not need to supplement with food. By oxidizing L-proline residues to obtain 4-hydroxy-L-proline, procollagen can be converted into collagen. This process requires the participation of vitamin C. The oxidized vitamin C is protein in other cells. Disulfide isomerase (protein disulfide isomerase, PDIA) and glutaredoxins (glutaredoxins) are catalyzed by glutathione reduction. Vitamin C is a reducing redox catalyst that can neutralize active oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide. In addition to its direct antioxidant effect, vitamin C is also a substrate of the reductase ascorbate peroxidase (ascorbate peroxidase), which plays a particularly important role in the resistance of plants. Vitamin C is generally present in various parts of plants in high content, especially the concentration in chloroplasts can be as high as 20mmol/L.