Abstract
ALTHOUGH a relationship between vitamin B12 deficiency and neuropsychiatric illness is well established, the effects of folic acid deficiency on the nervous system are less certain. It has been noted that the administration of folic acid to patients with pernicious anaemia could aggravate or precipitate nervous system complications1, and it has been widely assumed that deficiency of folic acid does not produce nervous system disfunction. This assumption has been questioned recently on the basis of studies in epileptic and psychiatric patients2–5. The need for a re-evaluation of the relationship of folate deficiency to nervous system disorders is underlined by the relatively high concentrations of folate in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)6. We have therefore examined the relationship between serum and CSF folate concentrations in a group of neurological controls, psychiatric patients and drug treated epileptic patients.
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REYNOLDS, E., GALLAGHER, B., MATTSON, R. et al. Relationship between Serum and Cerebrospinal Fluid Folate. Nature 240, 155–157 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/240155a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/240155a0
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