FIGURE 1.

Dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) uptake and glucose synergistically fuel erythrocyte plasma membrane electron transport. Erythrocytes (n = 8) were pre-incubated in 2 mM DHA or PBS (=control, black) in the presence (blue) or absence (orange) of glucose. After washing, cells were suspended in 1 mM ferricyanide in PBS (A) or PBS containing 5 mM glucose (B). Aliquots were removed at indicated time points and the amount of ferrocyanide in supernatants assessed as described in section “Materials and Methods.” Mean values of reduced ferrocyanide are given in μmol/10¹² cells and shown both as cumulative values (upper panels) and amount generated between time points (lower panels), respectively. Please mind the different scales of the y-axes in panels (A,B).