Determination of Folic Acid Metabolites in Normal Subjects and in Patients with Nutritional Megaloblastic Anemia.

Abstract

Three microbiological assays were employed simultaneously (L. casei, S. fecalis, and P. cerevisiae) for determination of folic acid (F. A.) metabolites in whole blood and serum. Normal values were established with all these bioassays in healthy subjects. In a group of patients with severe megaloblastic anemia concentrations of all the F. A. metabolites in the whole blood were found to be remarkably reduced. The most striking decrease was found with the L. casei and P. cerevisiae assays. The results indicate an almost complete depletion of F. A. content of the red cells.