Lack of effect of norethindrone and mestranol on folacin depletion and repletion in rats
Martinez, O.B.; Roe, D.A.
Journal of Nutrition 107(7): 1157-1169
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 874560 Document Number: 111145
Folacin-depleted and folacin-sufficient rats were given subcutaneous implants of silastic capsules containing either norethindrone or mestranol, or a mixture of both, or cholesterol, or were given a sham operation. Three weeks after treatment, the rats received intraperitoneally a single dose of [2-14C]folic acid and were killed 24 h later. Microbiological estimations with Lactobacillus casei showed that the rats fed on the deficient diet had less tissue folacin, but neither hormone singly or in combination had any effect on tissue folacin either in the folacin-depleted or the folacin-sufficient rats. Radioactivity retention in the kidney, but not in the liver, of folacin-depleted rats reflected the dietary depletion, but there was no substantial effect of the hormones on that variable in either organ. In the second experiment, folacin-depleted rats received the same hormone treatment as before. Partial repletion of tissue folacin was achieved with equimolar doses of synthetic folic acid glutamate 7 and folic acid given by tube; repletion was similar in all rats regardless of hormone treatment or whether repletion had been with folic acid or folic acid glutamate 7.