Neural-tube defects are associated with low concentrations of cobalamin (vitamin B12) in amniotic fluid

While folate supplementation reduces the risk of recurrent neural‐tube defects (NTD), both folate and cobalamin deficiencies may be independent risk‐factors for neural‐tube defects. Folate‐dependence and impaired remethylation of homocysteine are implicated as mechanisms for NTD. There are few refer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Prenatal diagnosis 1998-06, Vol.18 (6), p.545-555
Main Authors: Steen, M. T., Boddie, A. M., Fisher, A. J., MacMahon, W., Saxe, D., Sullivan, K. M., Dembure, P. P., Elsas, L. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
5-Methyltetrahydrofolate-Homocysteine S-Methyltransferase - metabolism
Amniocentesis
Amniotic Fluid - chemistry
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Cysteine - analysis
Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy
Double-Blind Method
Female
Folic Acid - analysis
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Homocysteine - analysis
Homocysteine - metabolism
Humans
Medical sciences
Methionine - analysis
Methylation
Neural Tube Defects - metabolism
Pilot Projects
Pregnancy
Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta
Reference Values
Vitamin B 12 - analysis
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Summary:While folate supplementation reduces the risk of recurrent neural‐tube defects (NTD), both folate and cobalamin deficiencies may be independent risk‐factors for neural‐tube defects. Folate‐dependence and impaired remethylation of homocysteine are implicated as mechanisms for NTD. There are few references reported for folate, cobalamin, homocysteine and methionine in the fetal compartment. This case‐controlled pilot study of amniotic fluid (AF) samples derived from 16 NTD pregnancies and 64 age‐matched controls quantitates total homocysteine (tHcy), total cysteine (tCys), folate, cobalamin (B12), and methionine. Only decreased AF B12 concentrations were found (150 pg/ml versus 540 pg/ml, P
ISSN:0197-3851
1097-0223
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0223(199806)18:6<545::AID-PD293>3.0.CO;2-2