[Effect of ascorbic acid during acute iterative anoxia, hypothesis of an anti-oxidizing mechanism of action in comparison with the effect of hydroquinone].

: Some of the problems which appear during senescence, are said to be caused by cerebral oxygen deficiency and various experiments have been set up to try to imitate this particular aspect of the ageing process. We have already studied the action of many drugs with regard to acute repeated anoxia. Our work has given us clear evidence of the activity of ascorbic acid, which delays the moment of electroencephalographic silence in rats and decreases the latent period up to the reappearance of electrical activity. In order to pinpoint the mechanism of action, we compared the influence of lysine aceto-salicylate with that of hydroquinone. Very small doses of the latter drug produce a marked effect and lead us to put forward the hypothesis that it may be anti-oxydising. However, although all the drugs which proved effective in these experiments may be grouped together (despite their varying pharmacological profiles) and described as "anabiotic" drugs, it is not possible to revert to a single mechanism of action for the group as a whole.