LAUSR

This study aims to determine the effect of orally administered vitamin C (Vit C) supplementation on physiological and histopathological changes in aged rats of different genders. A total of 28 Sprague‐Dawley aged male and female rats were randomly divided into four groups of seven animals per group. The study groups included the aged male control (MC), aged male with Vit C (MVC) (500 mg/kg vitamin C, orally) supplementation, female aged control (FC), and female aged with vitamin C (FVC) (500 mg/kg vitamin C, orally) supplementation groups. At the end of the study, which lasted 31 days, blood, brain, heart, liver, and kidney tissues were collected from rats under ketamine (87 mg/kg) and xylazine (13 mg/kg) anesthesia. The results indicated that although Vit C supplementation had no effect on serum Vit C levels, gender had an effect on serum Vit C levels (p < 0.05). However, Vit C supplementation and gender did not affect serum IL‐6, IL‐1β, TOS, and OSI levels (p > 0.05). Vit C supplementation, without the effect of gender, significantly increased TNF‐α levels in MVC groups compared to MC groups (p < 0.05), while it significantly decreased them in FVC groups compared to FC groups (p < 0.05). In addition, Vit C significantly reduced histopathological alterations in brain, heart, and liver tissues associated with aging, including oxidative stress and inflammation. In conclusion, it was observed that orally administered 500 mg/kg Vit C supplementation to old rats is not an effective way to increase the Vit C pool in the body, but gender has an impact on the blood Vit C concentrations.