Abstract
Clinical studies have indicated that the incidence of neural tube defects (NTD) is lower in a population of women given supplemental vitamin therapy than in the control population of women (both groups having previously delivered an infant with a NTD), To further investigate the possible protective effects of vitamin supplementation during gestation, pregnant rats were initially injected, subcutaneously, with MVI-12, a multi-vitamin preparation or the vehicle prepartion on the morning of the 8th day of gestation. One hour later, the rats were anethesized and a laparotomy performed to confirm the number of embryonic sites. At this time, sheep anti-rat yolk sac serum (100 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally. This dose produces a 100% incidence of congenital malformations, including NTD. The incision was closed arid the pregnancy allowed to continue to term. Vitamins continued to be administered over a period of three days to maintain high levels of vitamins in the rats. NTD were observed in 100% of the term offspring in both the vitamin-supplemented group and the control group. In addition, no reduction in embryolethality was found in the vitamin-supplemented group. These results suggest that viatmin supplementation, at least at the doses used, does not afford protection against the teratogenic effects of yolk-sac antiserum in rat embryos. It has been hypothesized that NTD have multiple etiologies and, therefore, no single treatment will be likely to prevent these defects. These results do not refute that hypothesis. (Supported by NIH)
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Polifka, J., Russ, H. & Brent, R. EFFECTS OF VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE OCCURRENCE OF NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS IN THE RAT. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 229 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00379
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00379