The long-term relationship between serum vitamin B12 and total body vitamin B12.
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BACKGROUND: Mild cobalamin (Cbl) deficiency is frequently found in older persons and is associated with cognitive and cerebral abnormalities. The effects of Cbl supplementation on these abnormalities are largely unknown. METHODS: In a single-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study, 16 healthy community-dwelling elderly subjects with low plasma Cbl concentration and no cognitive impairments were studied. Subjects underwent 1 month of treatment with placebo, followed by 5 months of treatment with intramuscular injections of hydroxycobalamin. Before and after measurements of plasma cobalamin, total homocysteine (tHcy), methylmalonic acid (MMA), quantitative electroencephalograph (qEEG), and psychometric tests were taken. RESULTS: After Cbl supplementation, plasma Cbl concentrations increased, and plasma MMA and tHcy concentrations decreased. The performance on the Verbal Word Learning Test, Verbal Fluency and Similarities improved. qEEG showed more fast activity and less slow activity. Lower plasma tHcy concentrations were related to increased fast activity on qEEG on the one hand and improved performance on the Verbal Word Learning Test and Similarities on the other. Increased fast or decreased slow activity on qEEG was associated with improved performance on the Verbal Word Learning Test, Similarities and Verbal Fluency. CONCLUSIONS: Electrographic signs of improved cerebral function and improved cognitive function were found after Cbl supplementation in older subjects with low plasma Cbl concentrations who were free of significant cognitive impairment. These improvements were related to a reduction of plasma tHcy concentration.
Vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) deficiency results in decreased L-methylmalonyl-coenzyme A (CoA) mutase activity. The consequence of this defect on the cellular CoA pool was studied in rats with functional vitamin B-12 deficiency induced by administration of the cobalamin analogue hydroxy-cobalamin [c-lactam] or by dietary vitamin B-12 deficiency. Both types of vitamin B-12 deficiency were associated with methylmalonic acidemia (100-300-fold increases in plasma methylmalonic acid concentration compared with controls), but overall fuel homeostasis was intact. Liver from rats treated with hydroxy-cobalamin [c-lactam] contained a threefold greater concentration of total CoA (free CoA plus all acyl-CoA) compared with saline-treated rats. Fractionation of the CoA pool revealed higher levels of CoA, propionyl-CoA, methyl-malonyl-CoA, acid-insoluble CoA, as well as total CoA in the rats treated with hydroxy-cobalamin [c-lactam] compared with controls. Similar increases in liver CoA content were seen in dietary vitamin B-12 deficiency in both the fed and fasted states. To examine the hypothesis that sequestration of hepatic CoA as propionyl-CoA and methylmalonyl-CoA could increase CoA biosynthesis, the effect of propionate on CoA biosynthesis was studied in hepatocytes isolated from control rats. Propionate (1 mM) increased the formation of 14C-CoA from [14C]pantothenate (10 microM) by 27% in the hepatocyte system. When butyrate (1 mM) was provided as substrate, propionate (10 mM) increased [14C]CoA formation by 63%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Coenzyme A without an acyl-thioester (CoASH) is required for numerous cellular reactions, and sequestration of CoASH as acyl-CoAs may impair metabolic function. Increased total CoA protects the cell from acyl-CoA accumulation, and enhanced CoA biosynthesis may represent a compensatory response in metabolic disease. To test the hypothesis that cellular CoA is redistributed from the cytosol to the mitochondria in response to mitochondrial acyl-CoA accretion, the subcellular distribution of hepatic CoA was determined by differential centrifugation and measurement of the mitochondrial marker enzyme citrate synthase. Liver from control, clofibrate-treated and hydroxycobalamin[c-lactam] (HCCL)-treated rats were used. Clofibrate increased total hepatic CoA concentration 2.2-fold, whereas HCCL (which causes inhibition of L-methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and consequent propionyl- and methylmalonyl-CoA accumulation) increased it threefold. However, clofibrate did not affect the percentage of total CoA in the mitochondria (control: 44 +/- 3%, clofibrate: 49 +/- 5%), and HCCL-treatment induced a marked redistribution of CoA into the mitochondria (HCCL: 78 +/- 8%). Redistribution of total CoA was also induced acutely by incubation of hepatocytes from control rats with 10 mmol/L propionate. Thus, redistribution of the cellular CoA pool can help maintain CoASH availability as mitochondrial acyl-CoA accumulation occurs and may be an important compensatory response to metabolic injury.
The present study was designed to test the effect of a combination of dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) and hydroxycobalamin (vitamin B12) on the survival of mice bearing L1210 leukemia. Results showed a significant increase in survival of treated mice compared with controls (p less than or equal to 0.0001) (Student's t-test). This positive effect was significantly lost when DHA was substituted by ascorbic acid (AA) in the same experimental conditions. In vitro findings also revealed that the DHA-B12 combination specifically inhibited mitoses of L1210 cells while non-neoplastic L929 cells were not affected.
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The return of the MCV to normal after treatment in megaloblastic anaemia follows a biphasic pattern. The initial more rapid decline in MCV is due to disappearance of pretreatment macrocytes from the circulation and the rate of fall is determined by their mean cell life. The second slower component is probably due to a mixture of pretreatment macrocytes and new macrocytes, the result of a young red cell population. The MCV often returned to normal most rapidly in the most severely megaloblastic patients due to a very short mean red cell life span. However, there was no significant correlation between either initial MCV or red cell count and the time after treatment for a return of a normal MCV.
Folate analogues were added to human bone marrow cells to determine their effect on deoxyuridine utilization in the deoxyuridine suppression test. Formyltetrahydrofolates fully corrected the impairment of dU utilization in pernicious anaemia marrows but tetrahydrofolate was relatively ineffective. All these analogues were effective in megaloblastic marrows from folate deficient patients. Formyltetrahydrofolates also enhanced dU utilization by normal human marrows whereas methyltetrahydrofolate reduced its use. In terms of the methylfolate trap hypothesis, the expectation that cobalamin-deficient marrows would be able to use tetrahydrofolate normally was not realized.
Haematological sequellae of vitamin B12 deficiency are attributed to disturbed DNA synthesis, but vitamin B12 itself plays no role in DNA biosynthesis. A proposed explanation for this is the methylfolate trap hypothesis. This hypothesis states that B12 deficiency impairs overall folate metabolism because 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5MTHF) becomes metabolically trapped. This trap results from the fact that 5MTHF can neither be metabolised via the methionine synthase pathway, nor can it be reconverted to its precursor, methylenetetrahydrofolate. Other manifestations of the methylfolate trap include cellular folate loss because of shorter 5MTHF polyglutamate chains and global hypomethylation. The methylfolate trap has never been demonstrated in humans. We describe a patient with B12 deficiency who was homozygous for the common methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T mutation. We analysed red blood cell (RBC) folate vitamers and global DNA methylation by liquid chromatography (LC) in combination with tandem mass spectrometry, and 5MTHF polyglutamate length by LC-electrochemical detection. Compared to post-B12 supplementation values, homocysteine was higher (52.9 micromol/l vs. 16.8 micromol/l), RBC folate was lower (268.92 nmol/l vs. 501.2 nmol/l), the 5MTHF fraction of RBC folate was much higher (94.5% vs. 67.4%), polyglutamate chain length was shorter (more tetra- and pentaglutamates), and global DNA methylation was 22% lower. This is the first time that virtually all features of the methylfolate trap hypothesis have been demonstrated in a human with vitamin B12 deficiency.
We report here a case of megaloblastic anaemia in late pregnancy, which leads us to question whether folate supplements should be recommended in the UK routinely throughout pregnancy and not just in the preconception period and first trimester.
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In response to specific treatment of vitamin B12 deficient, anaemic patients there is an influx of folate into the young, circulating red cells. To separate new and old cells, capillary tubes filled with whole blood were centrifuged and the packed red cell column divided into top (T), middle (M) and bottom (B) layer. The newest cells are found in the T layer. The increase in red cell folate (RCF) concentration starts before, during or after the reticulocyte response, and is therefore not directly related to folate metabolism in the red precursor cells in the marrow. The low RCF concentration at the peak of the reticulocyte response in some of the cases demonstrates that the folate material, which may have been accumulated in the red precursor cells in the marrow, may be lost by the time the red cells enter the peripheral blood. The influx of folate into the young, circulating red cells is rapidly followed by an efflux of folate, suggesting that much of the folate material is still in the monoglutamate form. A new influx of folate is noted after a time lapse of from 5 to 10 d. Iron deficiency seems to prevent the uptake of folate by the circulating red cells.