Experimental and clinical evidences on anti-inflammatory, antioxidant,
and immunomodulatory effects of vitamins C, an updated and comprehensive
review
Abstract
Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is used in modern medicine supplements for
therapeutic objectives in various disorders associated with oxidative
stress, inflammation, and immune dysregulation. In the present review
article, updated experimental and clinical studies on anti-inflammatory,
antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects of vitamins C are discussed.
Electronic search engines were searched using appropriate keywords until
the end of 2022. Vitamin C showed anti-inflammatory effects in various
inflammatory disorders through modulating inflammatory cells and
mediators. Vitamin C also showed antioxidant effects by reducing or
inhibiting the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), hydroxyl
radicals, nitric oxide (NO), superoxide anion, and peroxyl radicals,
which leads to alleviating of oxidative stress. The immunomodulatory
effect of vitamin C also reported on different immune deficiently
associated disorders through immune suppressive or in some cases by
immune stimulatory mechanisms. Therefore, reviewed papers indicated
potential therapeutic effects of vitamin C on inflammatory, oxidative
stress, and/or immune-dysregulation associated disorders.