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The effects of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy in the rat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

B. L. G. Morgan  and
M. Winick
B. L. G. Morgan
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 630 West 168th Street, New York, New York 10032, USA
M. Winick
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 630 West 168th Street, New York, New York 10032, USA
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Abstract

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1. Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley female rats were randomly assigned to three groups (groups A, B, C). Group A was given a folic acid-free diet and groups B and C received 0.0018 g folic acid/kg diet. Rats in group C were also given a supplement of 1 mg folic acid/d by intraperitoneal injection.

2. After 14 d of feeding the rats were mated. The diets were continued throughout gestation. On day 21, of gestation the dams were killed and their livers and products of conception assayed for RNA, DNA, protein and tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase; EC1.5.1.3) activity.

3. The foetuses, placentas and livers from supplemented rats (group C) were significantly larger than those from groups A and B and had a higher content of RNA, DNA and protein. Those tissues from group A dams were smaller than those from the other groups and had a correspondingly reduced nucleic acid and protein content.

4. The activity of tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, the first and rate-limiting enzyme in the metabolism of folate, was increased in the folate supplemented rats (group C) and reduced in the rats given a folic acid-free diet (group A). These changes in enzyme activity could explain the differences in nucleic acid biosynthesis and growth shown by the different groups.

Type
Papers of direct relevance to Clinical and Human Nutrition
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , November 1978 , pp. 529 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1978

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