Mechanisms of Folic Acid Deficiency in Nontropical Sprue
- Herman Baker, PhD;
- Oscar Frank, PhD;
- Harry Sobotka, PhD
- Jersey City, NJ; New York
- From the Division of Hepatic Metabolism and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Seton Hall College of Medicine and Jersey City Medical Center (Drs. Baker, Frank, and Leevy); Department of Chemistry (Dr. Sobotka) and Department of Gastroenterology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (Drs. Ho, Cohen, and Janowitz); and Department of Medicine, Roosevelt Hospital, New York (Dr. Ziffer).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
THE ANEMIA seen in nontropical sprue is commonly associated with folic (pteroylglutamic) acid deficiency which seems to be due to unknown interferences with absorption of this vitamin. In nontropical sprue there is impaired absorption of orally-administered folic acid as measured by urinary excretion or circulating levels after saturating the tissues with folic acid.1,2 This malabsorption may be related to an enzyme defect in the intestinal mucosal cells.3 The latter supposition initiated the studies reported here.
We have developed an oral folic acid tolerance test using a microbial method which directly correlates serum folate activity with folate absorption and hemopoietic activity. This enabled us to study the absorption of folic acid and two folylglutamate conjugates, pteroyldiglutamic acid (pteroylglutamyl-α-glutamic acid) (Diopterin) and sodium pteroyl triglutamate (pteroylglutamyl-γ-glutamyl-γ-glutamic acid) (Teropterin), in normal subjects, patients with nontropical sprue, and patients with nutritional folate-deficiency anemia.
Materials and Methods Absorption of a synthetic glutamyl conjugate,
Footnotes
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Peh-Ping Ho, MD, Nathaniel Cohen, MD, Henry Janowitz, MD, and Herman Ziffer, MD, New York, and Carroll M. Leevy, MD, Jersey City, NJ, are co-authors of this study.
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Read before the session on nutrition and metabolism at the Third Multiple Discipline Research Forum during the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, Atlantic City, NJ, June 18, 1963.
