Neurological aspects of folate and vitamin B12 metabolism.

During three decades of neurological practice I have witnessed a remarkable change in attitudes to the benefits and risks of folic acid therapy in nervous system disorders. In the 1960s all that was known and taught was that folic acid was harmful to the nervous system, especially in precipitating or exacerbating the neurological complications of vitamin B12 deficiency. So deeply held was this view that the possibility of neuropsychological benefits from this vitamin was initially viewed with considerable scepticism.

https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/jnnp/72/5/567.full.pdf

Benefits and risks of folic acid to the nervous system.

Preliminary evidence for involvement of the folate gene polymorphism 19bp deletion-DHFR in occurrence of autism.

The vitamin folic acid has been recognized as a crucial environmental factor for nervous system development. From the early fetal stages of the formation of the presumptive spinal cord and brain to the maturation and maintenance of the nervous system during infancy and childhood, folate levels and its supplementation have been considered influential in the clinical outcome of infants and children affected by neurological diseases. Despite the vast epidemiological information recorded on folate function and neural tube defects, neural development and neurodegenerative diseases, the mechanisms of folate action in the developing neural tissue have remained elusive. Here we compiled studies that argue for a unique role for folate in nervous system development and function and its consequences to neural disease and repair. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 78: 391-402, 2018.

Folate action in nervous system development and disease.

Effects of folic and kainic acids on synaptic responses of hippocampal neurones

Folic acid applied topically in solution to the rat cuneate nucleus reduced presynaptic inhibition produced by peripheral stimulation. This resembles the action of picrotoxin in the same animals and it is possible that these two convulsants are acting in a similar manner by blockade of the receptors for the presynaptic inhibitory transmitter.

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R.G. Hill

Papers

Antagonism by folic acid of presynaptic inhibition in the rat cuneate nucleus