Baseline plasma vitamin C concentrations were significantly
higher (P = 0.03) among the women than among the men
(56.4 ± 4.4 compared with 44.3 ± 3.5 mol/L). In the doseresponse
study, the maximum increase in plasma vitamin C
occurred 3 h postdose in both the men and the women. Vitamin
C concentrations remained significantly higher on days 7 and 14
than at baseline. Baseline concentrations of 8-epi-PGF2 were
significantly higher (P = 0.03) among the men than among the
women (249.6 ± 25.4 compared with 177.7 ± 6.2 pg/mL) but
decreased significantly (P = 0.04) by day 14 of the intervention.
A significant inverse correlation was observed between vitamin
C and 8-epi-PGF2 (r = –0.791, P = 0.0022). Among smokers,
baseline vitamin C was lower and 8-epi-PGF2 higher than among
nonsmokers.