Folic acid requirement

The client should avoid drinking alcohol products because they increase folic acid requirements. 

I. Pharmacology. Folic acid is a B-complex vitamin that is essential for protein synthesis and erythropoiesis. In addition, the administration of folate to patients with methanol poisoning may enhance the elimination of the toxic metabolite formic acid, based on studies in folate-deficient primates. Note Folic acid requires metabolic activation and is not effective for treatment of poisoning by dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors (eg, methotrexate and trimethoprim). Leucovorin (see p 460) is the proper agent in these situations. 

The mediation of Bu in DNA synthesis apart from its role in the biogenesis of purines, was further documented by Rege and Sreenivasan (1954), who showed that cyanocobalamin stimulated DNA but not RNA synthesis by Streptococcus faecalis and Lactobacillus casei, whether or not folic acid was present. The basal medium contained purines and pyrimidines. The folic acid required for growth was not replaceable by cyanocobalamin. 

Antifolate not easily assimilated by non-folic-acid-requiring bacteria ... 

In 1905, orotic acid (Fig. 21) was discovered and isolated from cow s milk (348). The acid has also been found in appreciable quantities in the culture media of certain Neurospora mutants (343) and in yeast (338). For two p3rrimidine-deficient Neurospora mutants, orotic acid replaced uracil and cytosine as growth factors (315). For several streptococci, orotic acid was as effective as uracil in stimulating growth (344)- Orotic acid also replaced the folic acid requirement of specific microoi anisms (345) and satisfied the requirement of Lactobacillus bidgoricus for certain natural materials (338). 

The close biogenetic relationship that appears to exist between folic acid and riboflavin is further borne out by a recent study of Clapper and Meade ( 8b) who found that when the amount of folic acid required for growth of a strain of Streptococcus faecalis was limiting, the amount of riboflavin synthesized by the organism was depressed. This relationship also held in nonproliferating cells. The authors speculate that folic acid may be degraded to a pteridine that can be utilized for riboflavin synthesis. 

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