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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Modifying Levels of Maternal Dietary Folic Acid or Choline to Study the Impact of Deficiencies on Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
Effects of folinic acid and Vitamin B12 on ethanol-induced developmental toxicity in mouse
Yajun Xu1, Li Li, Zhaofeng Zhang
1Department of Nutrition & Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Laboratory of Molecular Toxicology & Developmental Molecular Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to assess whether combined supplementation of folinic acid (FA) and Vitamin B(12) (VB(12)) could suppress ethanol-induced developmental toxicity better than FA alone in mouse embryos cultured in vitro. In this study, exposure to 4.0mg/ml ethanol for 48 h yielded growth retardation and various malformations of the embryos. FA (10(-5), 10(-4)mol/l) or VB(12) (10(-6), 10(-5)mol/l) alone supplementation improved the growth parameters moderately, however combined supplementation of the two vitamins (10(-5)mol/l FA plus 10(-6)mol/l VB(12), 10(-5)mol/l FA plus 10(-5)mol/l VB(12), 10(-4)mol/l FA plus 10(-6)mol/l VB(12) and 10(-4)mol/l FA plus 10(-5)mol/l VB(12)) showed better protective effects, including both the growth and development parameters of the embryos, than either vitamin alone at the same dosage. The present investigation indicated that combined supplementation of folic acid and VB(12) might be a better choice than folic acid alone in the prevention of ethanol-induced birth defects.

