Vitamin B12, folic acid, and the nervous system.

Article Details

Citation

Reynolds E

Vitamin B12, folic acid, and the nervous system.

Lancet Neurol. 2006 Nov;5(11):949-60.

PubMed ID
17052662 [ View in PubMed
]
Abstract

There are many reasons for reviewing the neurology of vitamin-B12 and folic-acid deficiencies together, including the intimate relation between the metabolism of the two vitamins, their morphologically indistinguishable megaloblastic anaemias, and their overlapping neuropsychiatric syndromes and neuropathology, including their related inborn errors of metabolism. Folates and vitamin B12 have fundamental roles in CNS function at all ages, especially the methionine-synthase mediated conversion of homocysteine to methionine, which is essential for nucleotide synthesis and genomic and non-genomic methylation. Folic acid and vitamin B12 may have roles in the prevention of disorders of CNS development, mood disorders, and dementias, including Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia in elderly people.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets
DrugTargetKindOrganismPharmacological ActionActions
MethionineMethionine synthaseProteinHumans
Unknown
Product of
Details