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Folate Deficiency in Rats Fed Amino Acid Diets¹

Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

Growth rate, hematological changes, serum, erythrocyte and liver folate levels, and urinary excretion of formiminoglutamic acid (FIGLU) were measured in rats fed p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)-free, sulfonamide-supplemented purified amino acid diets with and without folic acid and fiber, individually and in combination. Fiber had no effect on growth but was necessary to prevent mortality in the absence of folic acid. Folic acid did not affect growth during the first 40 days, but after this period rats failed to gain weight in the absence of folic acid. Although blood hematocrit was lower when the diet was devoid of fiber and folic acid and leucocyte counts were lower when the diets were devoid of folic acid, the hematological values remained within normal physiological limits for healthy rats of comparable age. FIGLU excretion was increased and serum, erythrocyte and liver folate levels were depressed when rats were fed folic acid-free diets for 28 days. Neutrophil hypersegmentation was clearly evident after 28 days of feeding the folic acid-free diets. The use of an amino acid diet without PABA but containing 5% fiber and 1% succinylsulfathiazole is a useful system to study chronic folic acid deficiency in the rat.

KEY WORDS: • folate deficiency • neutrophil hypersegmentation • amino acid diet

¹ This investigation was supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture grant No. 5901-0410-8-00850 from Competitive Research Grants Office and by U.S. Department of Agriculture Western Regional Research Project No. 143.

² To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 2 August 1982.