American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 992-996, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Effect of neonatal folic acid deprivation on later growth and susceptibility to Shigella infection in the guinea pig

¹ From the John A. Hartford Foundation Diarrheal Disease Study Unit, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, Texas 75235

Two-day-old guinea pigs fed a folic acid-deficient diet for 14 days and subsequently offered a standard diet showed severe and prolonged growth retardation as compared with control groups. Animals receiving the deficient diet supplemented with oral folic acid had delayed growth but eventually achieved the same size as control animals fed standard diet from the beginning.

Of the group fed a folate-deficient diet for 14 days, 27% died shortly after beginning to take the standard diet, possibly related to the period of metabolic change and stress; however, the precise mechanism involved in their deaths was not elucidated.

The surviving animals from the early deprivation group, although small, appeared healthy and active. They resisted challenge with S. flexneri at 45 to 135 days of age. The enhanced susceptibility to Shigella challenge of young guinea pigs fed a folate-deficient diet was reversed after resumption of the standard diet.