Expression of Genes Encoding Enzymes Involved in the One Carbon Cycle in Rat Placenta is Determined by Maternal Micronutrients (Folic Acid, Vitamin B₁₂) and Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Table 1

Composition of the diets.

S No	Diets	NFB (g/kg)	NFBD (g/kg)	NFBDO (g/kg)	EFB (g/kg)	EFBD (g/kg)	EFBDO (g/kg)
1	Corn starch	398	398	398	398	398	398
2	Casein	200	200	200	200	200	200
3	Dextrinized starch	132	132	132	132	132	132
4	Sucrose	100	100	100	100	100	100
5	Soya bean oil	70	70	25	70	70	25
6	Fish oil [DHA, EPA]^a	0	0	45	0	0	45
7	Fiber	50	50	50	50	50	50
8	Mineral mixture^b	35	35	35	35	35	35
9	Vitamin mixture^c	10	10	10	10	10	10
	Folic acid	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.008	0.008	0.008
	Vitamin B12	0.025	0	0	0.025	0	0
10	Cystine	3	3	3	3	3	3
11	Choline bitartrate	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
12	Tertiary butyl	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014	0.014
13	Total energy (kJ)	15.7	15.7	15.7	15.7	15.7	15.7

aThe diet was supplemented with Maxepa capsules (Merck) which contains a combination of DHA (120 mg) and EPA (180 mg) per capsule. The source of the DHA and EPA is fish lipid oil in the form of free fatty acids.
^bMineral mixture (g/kg mixture): calcium carbonate, 357; potassium phosphate, 196; potassium citrate, 70.78; sodium chloride, 78; potassium sulphate, 46.6; magnesium oxide, 24; ferric citrate, 6.06; zinc carbonate, 1.65; manganous carbonate, 0.63; cupric carbonate, 0.3; potassium iodate, 0.01; sodium selenate, 0.01; ammonium paramolybdate, 0.007; sodium metasilicate, 1.45; chromium potassium sulphate, 0.275; lithium chloride, 0.01; boric acid, 0.08; sodium fluoride, 0.06; nickel carbonate, 0.03; ammonium vanadate, 0.006; sucrose, 221.02.
^cVitamin mixture (g/kg mixture) of nicotinic acid, 3; calcium pantothenate, 1.6; pyridoxine-HCl, 0.7; thiamin-HCl, 0.6; riboflavin, 0.6; D-biotin, 0.02; vitamin B₁₂ (in 0.1% Mannitol), 2.5; vitamin E, 15; vitamin A, 0.8; vitamin D-3, 0.25; vitamin K, 0.075; folic acid, 0.2 (control), and sucrose 974.655, was used to make total weight of the vitamin mixture to 1 kg.
NFB: normal folic acid, normal vitamin B₁₂; NFBD: normal folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ deficient; EFB: excess folic acid, normal vitamin B₁₂; EFBD: excess folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ deficient; NFBDO: normal folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ deficient, omega-3 supplemented EFBDO: excess folic acid, vitamin B₁₂ deficient, omega-3 supplemented.