Determination of Vitamin C Level in Human Blood through Color Development Methods

Abstract

In this investigation three different spectrophotometric methods have been compared to estimate ascorbic acid contents of various human body fluids. For this purpose, twenty blood and urine samples were collected from middle aged adult subjects and preserved by the recommended methods. The 1st batch was analyzed by three methods for the ascorbic acid contents and the same methods were applied to the samples with added ascorbic acid in the 2nd batch of blood and in urine samples 3rd batch, taken from the same subjects. The results obtained have showed that all three test methods were valuable and applicable equally for blood and urine samples. Among these, the modified method of Roe and Keuther as described by Nino and Shah (1986) has been found the best in this regard. The percentage recovery from blood samples with added ascorbic acid was excellent with this method. For determining ascorbic acid in urine samples, above method again showed considerably better results. It is, therefore, conceivable that from the view point of sensitivity and specificity, the method modified has shown promising results for its application in human biological fluids.