ABSTRACT
D.L. Pirani created chronic low-grade scurvy in 20 guinea pigs by feeding them a scorbutogenic diet supplemented with 0.2 mg of ascorbic acid daily. The acute scurvy animals were dead a week or two later, while those with chronic scurvy went on to develop more severe and extensive joint lesions. The first evidence of arthropathy was usually at the knee and consisted of enlargement of the ends of the bones forming the joint, associated with subcutaneous hemorrhages and increasing tenderness. The joints became swollen and the animals had progressively more and more difficulty in walking. E.H Herrick reported that guinea pigs from which vitamin C were withheld developed the usual conditions of scurvy with painful joints and degenerating bones and testes. The histological changes in and around the temporomandibular joints of vitamin C-deficient guinea pigs were described by B.M Levy and R.J Gorlin.
