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Interactions Between Folate and Ascorbic Acid in the Guinea Pig1

Carolyn M. Lewis, Evelyn L. McGown, Michael G. Rusnak and Howerde E. Sauberlich

Letterman Army Institute of Research, Presidio of San Francisco, CA 94129 and USDA-SEA-HN Western Human Nutritional Research Center, Presidio of San Francisco, CA 94129

Possible interactions between folic acid (folate) and ascorbic acid (AA) have been suspected because megaloblastic anemia is occasionally observed in scorbutic patients, and it may or may not respond to folate treatment. Male weanling guinea pigs were fed diets containing high levels of folate and AA or diets deficient in one or both vitamins. A total of 36 animals, including 9 controls, were studied. When anorexia began to appear in the deficient groups, all animals were killed by exsanguination, and tissue samples (blood, liver, adrenal, kidney, spleen, and intestinal mucosa) were removed for AA and folate analyses. Folate and AA deficiency lowered tissue folate and AA levels, respectively. AA deficiency, either alone or in combination with folate restriction, did not affect tissue folate levels, nor did AA deficiency significantly exacerbate the anemia and leukopenia caused by folate deficiency. However, there was an unexpected decrease in AA levels in the liver and adrenal glands with folate deficiency. Although AA does not appear to be needed for normal folate metabolism, the lower AA levels associated with a folate deficiency are indicative of an interaction between the two vitamins.

KEY WORDS: • folate • folic acid • ascorbate • ascorbic acid

1 Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Nutrition, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Anaheim, CA, April 1980; Fed. Proc. 39, 557.

Manuscript received 28 April 1981.




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