Vitamin B12 Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin B12, including details on cyanocobalamin, benefits, supplements, deficiency, side-effects, sources.

Effects of folinic acid and Vitamin B12 on ethanol-induced developmental toxicity in mouse.

Xu Y, Li L, Zhang Z, Li Y

Department of Nutrition & Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Laboratory of Molecular Toxicology & Developmental Molecular Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.

The objective of this study was to assess whether combined supplementation of folinic acid (FA) and Vitamin B(12) (VB(12)) could suppress ethanol-induced developmental toxicity better than FA alone in mouse embryos cultured in vitro. In this study, exposure to 4.0mg/ml ethanol for 48 h yielded growth retardation and various malformations of the embryos. FA (10(-5), 10(-4)mol/l) or VB(12) (10(-6), 10(-5)mol/l) alone supplementation improved the growth parameters moderately, however combined supplementation of the two vitamins (10(-5)mol/l FA plus 10(-6)mol/l VB(12), 10(-5)mol/l FA plus 10(-5)mol/l VB(12), 10(-4)mol/l FA plus 10(-6)mol/l VB(12) and 10(-4)mol/l FA plus 10(-5)mol/l VB(12)) showed better protective effects, including both the growth and development parameters of the embryos, than either vitamin alone at the same dosage. The present investigation indicated that combined supplementation of folic acid and VB(12) might be a better choice than folic acid alone in the prevention of ethanol-induced birth defects.

Published 27 November 2006 in Toxicol Lett, 167(3): 167-72.
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