The effect of the scorbutic state upon the production and maintenance of intercellular substances.

Summary and Conclusions The scorbutic state may be characterized as one affecting supporting tissues in which the cells are unable to produce and maintain intercellular substances. This condition affects various supporting substances to a different degree, and is most marked in those in which the intercellular substance is calcified, as the dentine of teeth and the matrix of bone. The characterization applies to cartilage and connective tissue, and, by inference, to other intercellular substances, including that of blood vessels. The hypothesis is entertained, based upon the study of repair in in-cisor teeth of scorbutic guinea pigs, that in the formation of intercellular substances there is a change of the material from a liquid to a sollid or jell state, and that the missing factor in the scorbutic condition is one affecting the jelling or setting of a liquid product.