Vitamin C levels in a Central‐African mother–infant cohort: Does hypovitaminosis C increase the risk of enteric infections?

Moya-Alvarez, Violeta; Koyembi, Jean-Christophe Junior; Kayé, Laure M.; Mbecko, Jean-Robert; Sanke-Waïgana, Hugues; Djorie, Serge Ghislain; Nyasenu, Yawo Tufa; Mad-Bondo, Daniel; Kongoma, Jean-Bertrand; Nakib, Samir; Madec, Yoann; Ulmann, G.; Neveux, Nathalie; Sansonetti, Philippe J.; Vray, Muriel; Marteyn, Benoît

doi:10.1111/mcn.13215

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…As such, women with higher body weight early in pregnancy may be at enhanced risk of developing vitamin C insufficiency during their pregnancy. Furthermore, deficient vitamin C status in pregnant women can predispose their infants to significant hypovitaminosis C at birth, which, in turn, can increase the infants’ risk of adverse outcomes [ 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflammation and Vitamin C in Women with Prenatal Depression and Anxiety: Effect of Multinutrient Supplementation

et al. 2023

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Elevated inflammation has been associated with adverse mood states, such as depression and anxiety, and antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin C, have been associated with decreased inflammation and improved mood. In the current study comprising a cohort of pregnant women with depression and anxiety, we hypothesised that elevated inflammation would be associated with adverse mood states and inversely associated with vitamin C status and that multinutrient supplementation would optimise vitamin concentrations and attenuate inflammation. Sixty-one participants from the NUTRIMUM trial had blood samples collected between 12 and 24 weeks gestation (baseline) and following 12 weeks of daily supplementation with a multinutrient formula containing 600 mg of vitamin C or active placebo. The samples were analysed for inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokines) and vitamin C content and were related to scales of depression and anxiety. Positive correlations were observed between interleukin-6 (IL-6) and all of the mood scales administered (p < 0.05), including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Clinical Global Impressions—Severity Scale, the Montgomery and Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). CRP correlated weakly with GAD-7 (p = 0.05). There was an inverse correlation between CRP and the vitamin C status of the cohort (p = 0.045), although there was no association of the latter with the mood scales (p > 0.05). Supplementation with the multinutrient formula resulted in a significant increase in the vitamin C status of the cohort (p = 0.007) but did not affect the inflammatory biomarker concentrations (p > 0.05). In conclusion, greater systemic inflammation was associated with worse mood states; however, 12-week multinutrient supplementation did not alter inflammatory biomarker concentrations. Nevertheless, the vitamin C status of the cohort was improved with supplementation, which may aid pregnancy and infant outcomes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflammation and Vitamin C in Women with Prenatal Depression and Anxiety: Effect of Multinutrient Supplementation

et al. 2023

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“…32 However, recent data from Central Africa obtained by our group demonstrated that infants with hypovitaminosis C were at a significantly higher risk of having a positive stool culture for various pathogenic bacteria including Shigella . 21 Conversely, further investigations are required to evaluate the impact of shigellosis and other enteric diseases on ascorbate uptake and transport systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our recent study demonstrated that infants with hypovitaminosis C are at a significantly higher risk of bacterial infectious diseases, including shigellosis. 21 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ascorbate deficiency increases progression of shigellosis in guinea pigs and mice infection models

Skerniskyte,

Mulet,

André

et al. 2023

Gut Microbes

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Shigella spp. are the causative agents of bacterial dysentery and shigellosis, mainly in children living in developing countries. The study of Shigella entire life cycle in vivo and the evaluation of vaccine candidates’ protective efficacy have been hampered by the lack of a suitable animal model of infection. None of the studies evaluated so far (rabbit, guinea pig, mouse) allowed the recapitulation of full shigellosis symptoms upon Shigella oral challenge. Historical reports have suggested that dysentery and scurvy are both metabolic diseases associated with ascorbate deficiency. Mammals, which are susceptible to Shigella infection (humans, non-human primates and guinea pigs) are among the few species unable to synthesize ascorbate. We optimized a low-ascorbate diet to induce moderate ascorbate deficiency, but not scurvy, in guinea pigs to investigate whether poor vitamin C status increases the progression of shigellosis. Moderate ascorbate deficiency increased shigellosis symptom severity during an extended period of time (up to 48 h) in all strains tested ( Shigella sonnei , Shigella flexneri 5a, and 2a). At late time points, an important influx of neutrophils was observed both within the disrupted colonic mucosa and in the luminal compartment, although Shigella was able to disseminate deep into the organ to reach the sub-mucosal layer and the bloodstream. Moreover, we found that ascorbate deficiency also increased Shigella penetration into the colon epithelium layer in a Gulo −/− mouse infection model. The use of these new rodent models of shigellosis opens new doors for the study of both Shigella infection strategies and immune responses to Shigella infection.

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“…Data emerging from the Covid pandemic has even pointed to a role for vitamin C in improving immune function in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (85, 86). Furthermore, a specific impact of vitamin C on immunity during the newborn period is suggested by an exciting recent study performed in the Central-African Republic; offspring born to vitamin C-deficient mothers had low serum vitamin C levels and they were at a significantly higher risk of being infected with an enteric virus (87). In our study, vitamin C deficiency resulted in a significant reduction in B lymphocytes in pups and an almost complete loss in the generation of B cells following 4 weeks of vitamin C deprivation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vitamin C deficiency reveals developmental differences between neonatal and adult hematopoiesis

et al. 2022

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Hematopoiesis, a process that results in the differentiation of all blood lineages, is essential throughout life. The production of 1x1012 blood cells per day, including 200x109 erythrocytes, is highly dependent on nutrient consumption. Notably though, the relative requirements for micronutrients during the perinatal period, a critical developmental window for immune cell and erythrocyte differentiation, have not been extensively studied. More specifically, the impact of the vitamin C/ascorbate micronutrient on perinatal as compared to adult hematopoiesis has been difficult to assess in animal models. Even though humans cannot synthesize ascorbate, due to a pseudogenization of the L-gulono-γ-lactone oxidase (GULO) gene, its generation from glucose is an ancestral mammalian trait. Taking advantage of a Gulo-/- mouse model, we show that ascorbic acid deficiency profoundly impacts perinatal hematopoiesis, resulting in a hypocellular bone marrow (BM) with a significant reduction in hematopoietic stem cells, multipotent progenitors, and hematopoietic progenitors. Furthermore, myeloid progenitors exhibited differential sensitivity to vitamin C levels; common myeloid progenitors and megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors were markedly reduced in Gulo-/- pups following vitamin C depletion in the dams, whereas granulocyte-myeloid progenitors were spared, and their frequency was even augmented. Notably, hematopoietic cell subsets were rescued by vitamin C repletion. Consistent with these data, peripheral myeloid cells were maintained in ascorbate-deficient Gulo-/- pups while other lineage-committed hematopoietic cells were decreased. A reduction in B cell numbers was associated with a significantly reduced humoral immune response in ascorbate-depleted Gulo-/- pups but not adult mice. Erythropoiesis was particularly sensitive to vitamin C deprivation during both the perinatal and adult periods, with ascorbate-deficient Gulo-/- pups as well as adult mice exhibiting compensatory splenic differentiation. Furthermore, in the pathological context of hemolytic anemia, vitamin C-deficient adult Gulo-/- mice were not able to sufficiently increase their erythropoietic activity, resulting in a sustained anemia. Thus, vitamin C plays a pivotal role in the maintenance and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors during the neonatal period and is required throughout life to sustain erythroid differentiation under stress conditions.

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Vitamin C levels in a Central‐African mother–infant cohort: Does hypovitaminosis C increase the risk of enteric infections?

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

Inflammation and Vitamin C in Women with Prenatal Depression and Anxiety: Effect of Multinutrient Supplementation

Inflammation and Vitamin C in Women with Prenatal Depression and Anxiety: Effect of Multinutrient Supplementation

Ascorbate deficiency increases progression of shigellosis in guinea pigs and mice infection models

Vitamin C deficiency reveals developmental differences between neonatal and adult hematopoiesis

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