ABSORPTION OF PTEROYLPOLYGLUTAMATES IN MOTHERS OF INFANTS WITH NEURAL-TUBE DEFECTS

The ability to hydrolyse and absorb pteroylpolyglutamates (PteGlu(n)) included in a standard meal in mothers who had given birth to an infan t with a neural tube defect was tested by comparing them with mothers who had not had any infants with this defect. When compared with contr ol mothers working in the research unit in which the study was perform ed, case mothers had significantly lower baseline serum and erythrocyt e folate levels, and smaller increases in serum folate following the m eal containing PteGlu(n). However, all estimates of folate were simila r when case mothers were compared with a group of mothers who were fri ends of the case mothers. The results show that the higher the baselin e levels of serum and erythrocyte folate the greater the increase in s erum folate after the test meal. Fitting a model for the serum folate response curve resulted in coefficients which differed significantly b etween case mothers and all control mothers. We conclude that intestin al hydrolysis of PteGlu(n) taken orally is not impaired in mothers who have had infants with neural tube defects when compared with control mothers with similar baseline folate levels, although the curves descr ibing the response to the meal for the two groups do differ significan tly. Further investigation is required to determine the mechanism unde rlying this difference.