Vitamin B9 Puja Agarwal

Outline  Introduction  Synthesis of Folic Acid in Bacterial Cells.  Spectroscopic Characteristics  Folic Acid Benefits  Types of Foods That contain folic acid  Drug Interactions  Mechanism of Action  Studies on Folic Acid  Conclusion & Future Direction

Introduction  What is Vitamin B9?  Vitamin B9 is folic acid.  What is the difference between folic acid & folate?  Folate is inactive form of folic acid

Synthesis

13 C NMR 1* 2*

1 H NMR A B C D E F G J K L

Benefits of Folic Acid  Prevent Serious Birth Defects –Neural Tube Defects  Prevents Certain Types of Cancers –Colon & Breast Cancer  Prevents Alzheimer’s

Foods & Folic Acid  Leafy Green Vegetables  Citrus Fruits  Peanuts  Oatmeal  Breakfast Cereal  Breads  Beans  Liver  Brewer’s Yeast

Foods & Folic Acid

Drug Interactions  Nonsteriodal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)  Cholesterol Lowering Agents.  Methotraxate  Oral Contraceptives  Anti-Depressants  Antibiotics  Proton Pump Inhibitor’s (PPI’s)  Oral Diabetic Medications

Drug Interactions

Mechanism of Action  Folates are deconjugated in the cells of intestinal walls into its monoglutamate form.

Mechanism of Action  Folates function as carbon donors in the synthesis of serine.

Mechanism of Action  Folates also play an important role in the synthesis of purines, pyrimidine bases & in the synthesis of tRNA.

Mechanism of Action  Folates also serve as methyl donors to create methylcobalamin, which is used for remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. Methylcobalamin

Studies on Folic Acid  Blount et al (1997) recently showed that folate deficiency can cause a massive incorporation of uracil into human DNA, hence leading to chromosome breaks.  Another study by Kim et al (1997) suggested that folate deficiency induces DNA strand breaks and hypomethylation within the p53 gene.  Several other studies have also shown that Folic Acid deficiency can also cause Neural Tube Defects, Cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Anemia.

Conclusion  Prevents Serious Birth Defects  Prevents Cancer  Prevents Alzheimer’s  Prevents Heart Disease & Stroke

Future Direction  Folic acid can improve endothelial function  Folic acid plays an important role in production of normal red blood cells.

References       FolicAcidcs.html FolicAcidcs.html  Periz-Castrillon JL, Arranz-Pena ML, Luis DD. Homocystine as a predictive factor for hip fracture in older persons. New England Journal of Medicine 2004;2:  Dr. Adamcezski

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