Multi-site neural tube closure in humans and maternal folate supplementation

A group of 13 individuals with neural tube defects (NTD) despite maternal periconceptional folate supplementation was examined to determine precisely which closure sites along the neural tube had failed during embryogenesis. All the common forms of NTD, and thus all the usual closure sites, were represented. This suggests that folate deficiency does not act specifically on one region of the neural tube; rather, it may be more generally involved in the cause of human NTD.