ascorbic-acid and Intracranial-Arteriosclerosis

Homocysteine is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for atherothrombotic arterial diseases. We investigated the relation between plasma concentrations of total homocysteine (tHcy) and common carotid artery intima-media wall thickness, measured by B-mode ultrasonography, in 513 asymptomatic men and women from eastern Finland aged 45-69 years. The subjects were examined in 1994-95 at the baseline of the Antioxidant Supplementation in Atherosclerosis Prevention (ASAP) study, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled two by two factorial trial on the effect of vitamin E and C supplementation in the prevention of atherosclerotic progression. The subjects were assigned into two categories according to the plasma tHcy concentration; concentration over 11.5 micromol/L (highest quartile) or concentration below 11.5 micromol/L. In this study population the mean plasma tHcy concentration was 10.0 micromol/L, and the prevalence of plasma tHcy concentration exceeding 11.5 micromol/L was 33% in men and 18% in women. The adjusted mean intima-media thickness of the right and left common carotid arteries was 1.12 mm in men with elevated plasma tHcy concentration and 1.02 mm in men with a plasma tHcy concentration below 11.5 micromol/L (P = 0.029). In women there was no significant difference. We conclude that elevated plasma tHcy concentrations are associated with early atherosclerosis, as manifested by increased common carotid artery intima-media wall thickness, in middle-aged eastern Finnish men.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Arteriosclerosis; Ascorbic Acid; Carotid Artery Diseases; Carotid Artery, Common; Double-Blind Method; Female; Homocysteine; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Male; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Smoking; Ultrasonography; Vitamin E

Topics: Ascorbic Acid; Clinical Trials as Topic; Drug Therapy, Combination; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Methods; Morpholines; Papaverine; Rutin

Patients with stages I and II of vascular encephalopathy developing on the background of atherosclerosis were treated with ascovertin during 21 days. Ascovertin is a complex of flavonoid dihydroquercetin and ascorbic acid. The study group included 21 patients aged 45-65 years and a comparison group consisted of 10 age-matched patients un treated with ascovertin. The ascovertin treatment relieved headache, reduced vertigo and fatigability, improved cognitive functions. The reliable diminishing of whole blood viscosity due to improvement of cellular rheology indices (decrease of aggregation and increase of erythrocyte deformability as well as decrease of indices of lipid peroxidation in erythrocyte membrane and blood plasma) was observed in the stydy group but not in the comparison one.

Topics: Aged; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Blood Viscosity; Drug Combinations; Erythrocyte Aggregation; Erythrocyte Deformability; Flavonols; Headache; Hemorheology; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Lipid Peroxidation; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Quercetin; Sleep Wake Disorders; Tinnitus; Vertigo

Evidence that dietary antioxidants may prevent atherosclerotic disease is growing. The relationship between the intake of dietary and supplemental vitamin C, alpha-tocopherol, and provitamin A carotenoids and average carotid artery wall thickness was studied in 6318 female and 4989 male participants 45 to 64 years old int he Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.. Intake was assessed by use of a 66-item semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Carotid artery intima-media wall thickness was measured as an indicator of atherosclerosis at multiple sites with B-mode ultrasound. Among men and women > 55 years old who had not recently begun a special diet, there was a significant inverse relationship between vitamin C intake and average artery wall thickness adjusted for age, body mass index, fasting serum glucose, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, HDL and LDL cholesterol, total caloric intake, cigarette use, race, and education (test for linear trend across quintiles of intake, P = .019 for women and P = .035 for men). An inverse relationship was also seen between wall thickness and alpha-tocopherol intake but was significant only in women (test for linear trend, P = .033 for women and P = .13 for men). There was a significant inverse association between carotene intake and wall thickness in older men (test for linear trend, P = .015), but the association weakened after adjustment for potential confounders. No significant relationships were seen in participants < 55 years old.. These data provide limited support for the hypothesis that dietary vitamin C and alpha-tocopherol may protect against atherosclerotic disease, especially in individuals > 55 years old.

Topics: Antioxidants; Arteriosclerosis; Ascorbic Acid; beta Carotene; Carotenoids; Carotid Arteries; Diet; Energy Intake; Female; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Ultrasonography; United States; Vitamin E

In animals with peroxide model of atherosclerosis and patients with cerebral atherosclerosis, the protecting effects of antioxidants were studied. These were shown to inhibit both humoral and local manifestations of experimental atherosclerosis. In the patients, lipid levels were lowered with peroxidation indices returning to normal levels and clinical state simultaneously improving.

Topics: Adult; Animals; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Cerebral Arteries; Female; Flavonoids; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Lipid Peroxidation; Male; Middle Aged; Rabbits; Vitamin E

A group of 18 long-stay hospital psycho-geriatric patients (aged 64-101 years) and a group of 10 healthy elderly subjects (aged 53-67 years) who were living in their own residence were studied. The group of geriatric patients were suffering from some degree of pressure sores, dementia, irritability and anorexia. Biochemical tests on vitamin adequacy with particular references to ascorbic acid, thiamine and retinal were performed in the subjects. The thiamine status was measured by determining the thiamine pyrophosphate stimulating effect of transketolase enzyme activity in whole blood. The ascorbic acid and retinal nutritures were determined by measuring their levels in plasma. From the biochemical data of the vitamins it would appear that a significant proportion of the long-stay hospital psycho-geriatric patients may be at risk of thiamine, ascorbic acid and retinol deficiencies.

Topics: Age Factors; Aged; Ascorbic Acid; Dementia; Female; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Length of Stay; Middle Aged; Thiamine; Thiamine Pyrophosphate; Vitamin A; Vitamins

Topics: Age Factors; Animals; Arteriosclerosis; Ascorbic Acid; Ascorbic Acid Deficiency; Cholesterol; Coronary Disease; Diet, Atherogenic; Electrocardiography; Fibroblasts; Guinea Pigs; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Time Factors

Topics: Aesculus; Ascorbic Acid; Brain Edema; Capillary Permeability; Drug Therapy; Fagaceae; Flavones; Flavonoids; Hemorrhagic Disorders; Humans; Hypertension; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Rutin

Topics: Ascorbic Acid; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Pyridoxine; Thyroid Gland; Tissue Extracts; Vitamin B 12

Topics: Anemia; Arteriosclerosis; Ascorbic Acid; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis; Liver Diseases; Mental Disorders; Pyridoxine; Vitamins