The effects of maternal folic acid and vitamin C nutrition in early pregnancy on reproductive performance in the guinea-pig

Habibzadeh, N.; Schorah, C. J.; Smithells, R. W.

doi:10.1079/bjn19860006

Cited by 32 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Further, since thymidine does not accumulate in cells, significant amounts of reduced folates are required to accumulate in the oocyte during gametogenesis, to support the exponential increase in DNA synthesis that occurs during early embryo development. This and other animal data support the observation that folate increases embryo survival (22–24) in agreement with our results on implantation. Moreover, in a Polish study, women who received a folic acid supplement had better quality oocytes and a higher degree of mature oocytes compared to women who did not receive folic acid (8).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Dietary Folate and Reproductive Success Among Women Undergoing Assisted Reproduction

Gaskins

Afeiche

Wright

et al. 2014

Obstetrics &Amp; Gynecology

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Objective To evaluate prospectively the associations of folate with assisted reproductive technology outcomes within a U.S. population. Methods This analysis included women (n=232) in a prospective cohort study at the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center. Diet was assessed before assisted reproductive technology treatment using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Intermediate and clinical endpoints of ART were abstracted from medical records. Generalized linear mixed models with random intercepts to account for multiple cycles per woman were used to evaluate the association of folate intake with ART outcomes adjusting for calorie intake, age, BMI, race, smoking status, infertility diagnosis, and protocol type. Results Among the 232 women (median age=35.2 years, median folate intake=1,778 μg/day), higher folate intake was associated with higher rates of implantation, clinical pregnancy, and live birth. The adjusted percentage (95% CI) of initiated assisted reproductive technology cycles resulting in a live birth for women in increasing quartiles of folate intake were 30% (21, 42%), 47% (35, 59%), 42% (30, 35%) and 56% (43, 67%)(P-trend=0.01). Live birth rates were 20% (8, 31%) higher among women in the highest quartile of supplemental folate intake (>800μg/day) than among women in the lowest quartile (<400μg/day). Higher supplemental folate intake was associated with higher fertilization rates and lower cycle failure rates before embryo transfer (P-trend=0.03 and 0.02). Conclusions Higher intake of supplemental folate was associated with higher live birth rates after assisted reproductive technology treatment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Dietary Folate and Reproductive Success Among Women Undergoing Assisted Reproduction

Gaskins

Afeiche

Wright

et al. 2014

Obstetrics &Amp; Gynecology

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“…Deficiency of vitamin B]2 can therefore lead to decreased utilization of folate, a condition resembling folate deficiency. Diminished supply of folate to the embryo has been suggested to yield a number of developmental disturbances, including neural tube defects in the offspring, both in human and animal pregnancy (35)(36)(37). Administering folate antagonists to pregnant mice causes folate deficiency and results in congenital malformations (38), and rat embryo culture in serum from folate-deficient donors also produces growth retardation and malformations (39).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insulin treatment fails to abolish the teratogenic potential of serum from diabetic rats

Wentzel

Eriksson²

1996

European Journal of Endocrinology

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Maternal diabetes during pregnancy constitutes an increased risk for congenital malformations in the offspring. Previous studies have identified several serum components with teratogenic activity, e.g. glucose and beta-hydroxybutyrate, but have also suggested that the teratogenic influence of the diabetic environment on the developing embryo is multifactorial and may depend upon changed concentrations of several maternal metabolites. In the present investigation we aimed to assess the teratological impact of small, concomitant alterations in a series of metabolites, particularly those not previously identified as teratogens. We thus investigated the influence of a mild diabetic environment by culturing gestational day-9 rat embryos in serum from insulin-treated diabetic rats for 48 h in vitro, and compared the embryonic outcome with that obtained after culture in normal serum and in serum from manifestly diabetic rats without insulin treatment. The glucose concentration was adjusted to 10 or 30 mmol/l in the cultures, and the embryos were evaluated with respect to crown-rump length, protein and DNA content, number of somites and malformation score (comparing major, minor or no malformations). We found that increased glucose levels caused embryonic maldevelopment in both normal and diabetic serum, and that despite normalization of the diabetic state, the serum from the insulin-treated diabetic rats caused more growth retardation than the nondiabetic control serum. The normalized diabetic serum was also more teratogenic than the normal serum at the low glucose concentration, whereas the serum from the manifestly diabetic rats tended to cause more dysmorphogenesis at 30 mmol/l glucose than both the normal and normalized diabetic serum. The results suggest that the teratogenicity of maternal serum in diabetic pregnancy is not mediated exclusively by increased concentrations of glucose and ketone bodies. The efforts to diminish the teratogenic effects of a diabetic environment should therefore include normalization of a multitude of serum factors, including glucose and ketone bodies.

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“…However, folic acid supplementation may have reproductive benefits beyond the prevention of neural tube defects. Folic acid supplementation in animals promotes embryo and fetal survival rates throughout gestation (7–9) yet the association between folate intake and fetal survival in humans is less clear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Prepregnancy Folate Intake and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion and Stillbirth

Gaskins

Rich‐Edwards

Hauser

et al. 2014

Obstetrics &Amp; Gynecology

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Objective To evaluate prospectively the relationship between prepregnancy folate intake and risk of spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. Methods Women in the Nurses’ Health Study-II who self-reported a pregnancy between 1992 and 2009 were included in this analysis. Dietary folate and supplement use was assessed every 4 years, starting in 1991, by a food-frequency questionnaire. Pregnancies were self-reported, with case pregnancies lost spontaneously (spontaneous abortion <20 weeks of gestation and stillbirth 20+ weeks of gestation) and comparison pregnancies ending in ectopic pregnancy, induced abortion, or live birth. Results Among the 11,072 women, 15,950 pregnancies were reported of which 2,756(17.3%) ended in spontaneous abortion and 120(0.8%) ended in stillbirth. Compared to women in the lowest quintile of prepregnancy folate intake (<285μg/day), those in the highest quintile (>851μg/day) had a relative risk (RR) of spontaneous abortion of 0.91 (95% CI 0.82,1.02) after multivariable adjustment (P-trend=0.04). This association was primarily attributable to intake of folate from supplements. Compared to women without supplemental folate intake (0μg/day), those in the highest category (>730μg/day) had a RR of spontaneous abortion of 0.80 (95% CI 0.71,0.90) after multivariable adjustment (P-trend=<0.001). The association of prepregnancy supplemental folate with risk of spontaneous abortion was consistent across gestational period of loss. A similar inverse trend was observed with the risk of stillbirth, which fell short of conventional significance (P-trend=0.06). Conclusions Higher intake of folate from supplements was associated with reduced risk of spontaneous abortion. Women at risk of pregnancy should use supplemental folate for neural tube defect prevention and because it may decrease the risk of spontaneous abortion,.

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The effects of maternal folic acid and vitamin C nutrition in early pregnancy on reproductive performance in the guinea-pig

Cited by 32 publications

References 38 publications

Dietary Folate and Reproductive Success Among Women Undergoing Assisted Reproduction

Dietary Folate and Reproductive Success Among Women Undergoing Assisted Reproduction

Insulin treatment fails to abolish the teratogenic potential of serum from diabetic rats

Maternal Prepregnancy Folate Intake and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion and Stillbirth

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