1. Spectrofluorometric determination of ascorbic acid in the plasma matrix: Exploring correlation with autism spectrum disorder.
- Author
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Alharbi A, Bamaga AK, Algarni MA, Abduljabbar MH, Alnemari RM, Althobaiti YS, Alsenani F, Abdelazim AH, and Almalki AH
- Subjects
- Humans, Child, Child, Preschool, Male, Ascorbic Acid blood, Autism Spectrum Disorder blood, Spectrometry, Fluorescence methods
- Abstract
Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is crucial for bodily functions, including collagen synthesis, immune system support and antioxidant defense. Despite autism spectrum disorder's multifactorial nature involving genetic, environmental and neurological factors, robust evidence exploring the association between ascorbic acid and this disorder is notably lacking. This study introduces an innovative spectrofluorometric method to quantify ascorbic acid in the plasma of healthy children and those with autism spectrum disorder. The method relies on the interaction of ascorbic acid with the fluorescent dye propidium iodide. In acidic conditions, propidium iodide undergoes protonation and selectively binds to the negatively charged ascorbic acid forming an ion-pair complex. This complex alters the molecular structure of propidium iodide inducing chemical fluorescence quenching, that can be utilized for ascorbic acid quantification. The developed method undergoes rigorous validation following ICH guidelines, demonstrating a linear relationship within a concentration range of 4-40 μg/mL, with high precision and accuracy metrics. Analysis of real plasma samples from autistic and healthy children reveals clinically and statistically elevated levels of ascorbic acid in those with autism spectrum disorder., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relations that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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