Relation of Vitamin B12 and One-carbon Metabolism to Hydrocephalus in the Rat

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship of a number of factors involved in 1-carbon metabolism to the induction of hydrocephalus in the rat. Animals raised with a diet deficient in vitamin B12 gave birth to young with congenital hydrocephalus. The addition of an intestinal antibiotic, neomycin, to the dams' diets or the parenteral administration of vitamin B12 antagonists did not markedly increase the incidence of congenital abnormalities. The incidence of congenital hydrocephalus was markedly increased by the inclusion in the diet of X-methyl folic acid, a folic acid antagonist. A higher incidence was obtained, however, when females were fed a diet deficient in vitamin B12 and choline. Methionine and sarcosine in equivalent methyl groups did not offer the same protective effect as did choline. Abnormalities were similar in newborn animals from vitamin B12-deficient dams raised with the folic acid antagonist diets or with the choline-deficient diets. Lesions noted in offspring from these animals included:1)stunted embryonic growth,2)hydrocephalus,3)hydro-ureter and hydronephrosis,4)umbilical hernia,5)spina bifida and cranioschisis,6)harelip, and7)skeletal defects.