Vitamin B12 plays a vital role in neuronal development, particularly in myelinogenesis. Demyelination of the autonomic nervous system occurs early in vitamin B12 deficiency. However, the impact of maternal vitamin B12 deficiency during pregnancy on neuronal function in the offspring is poorly documented. The objective of this study was to assess cardiac autonomic nervous activity in children bo...

OBJECTIVE To assess the status of the vitamin B12 and folate of Chinese women living in northwest China. METHODS A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 2008 among Chinese women aged 10-49 years living in Shaanxi province of northwest China. A stratified multistage random sampling method was adopted to obtain a sample of 1170 women. The women were interviewed for collection ...

BACKGROUND Vitamin B12 is a fascinating molecule which acts as a co-factor in the metabolism of many organisms, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, fatty acid synthesis and energy production. The synthesis of vitamin B12 is limited to a few of bacteria and archaea. Therefore, industrial microbial fermentation is used to meet annual demands worldwide of vitamin B12 and as an alter...

Megaloblastic anemia is rare in infants and is generally due to vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency in the mother. Neurologic symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include irritability, failure to thrive, hypotonia, and developmental regression/delay. Herein we present 2 infants with vitamin B12 that developed movement disorder 5 d after initiation of vitamin B12 treatment. Symptoms included tremor...

Newly isolated thraustochytrids showed uptake of vitamin B12 from the culture into the cells. Cultivation of thraustochytrids in a medium containing 1 microg/ml of vitamin B12 greatly increased the contents of vitamin B12 in the cells. Similarly to Schizochytrium limacinum, odd numbered fatty acids decreased in the cells of new isolates cultivated with vitamin B12. Vitamin B12-enriched thrausto...

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin, Cbl) is an essential nutrient in human metabolism. Genetic diseases of vitamin B12 utilisation constitute an important fraction of inherited newborn disease. Functionally, B12 is the cofactor for methionine synthase and methylmalonyl CoA mutase. To function as a cofactor, B12 must be metabolised through a complex pathway that modifies its structure and takes it through s...

Several observations suggest that the absorption of vitamin B12 may be inhibited by bacteria. Both in experimental animals and in patients with blind loops, strictures, or fistulae involving the small intestine, heavy growths of bacteria have been found in areas of the bowel which are normally sterile (Seyderhelm, Lehmann, and Wichels, 1924; Doig and Girdwood, 1960). In patients with such lesio...

INTRODUCTION Although consensus guidelines recommend checking serum B12 in patients with dementia, clinicians are often faced with various questions: (1) Which patients should be tested? (2) What test should be ordered? (3) How are inferences made from such testing? (4) In addition to serum B12, should other tests be ordered? (5) Is B12 deficiency compatible with dementia of the Alzheimer's typ...

By ROBERT S. MENDELSOIIN, DONALD M. WATKIN, ANN P. HORBETr AND J OHN L. FAHEY R ECENT STUDIES have demonstrated that virtually all the vitamin B12 in normal serum is bound to serum proteins.1 In chronic myelocytic leukemia tile serum B12 concentration may be increased from 2 to 30 times normal levels.24 At these increased levels, all or almost all of the B12 is protein-bound. However, normal se...