The total ascorbic acid concentration in aqueous comprising two components, the reduced form as l-ascorbic acid, and the oxidised product, as dehydro l-ascorbic acid,3 although very variable, is very much higher than in blood plasma. In various animals, including man, the concentration ratio approximates 6-8:1.* Moreover, recently, it has been found that the concentration of ascorbic acid in the aqueous humor varies approximately as the concentration in the serum, regardless of whether or not the lens is cataractous, the subjects of this investigation being normal patients, aphakic patients, and patients whose lenses were sufficiently opaque to warrant extraction.7 The present paper deals with a comparative study of total ascorbic acid in aqueous and serum of Indian patients of three categories: (a) with normal lens, (b) with different types of cataract, (c) with lenses extracted previously.
Selection of Patients
The selected subjects were first subjected to a thorough examination