Dietary Folic Acid Alters Metabolism of Multiple Vitamins in a CerS6- and Sex-Dependent Manner

Mulberry leaves supplementation alters lipid metabolism and promotes fatty acid β oxidation in growing mutton sheep

Mulberry leaves (MLs) are an unconventional feed with fiber and various active ingredients, and are acknowledged as likely to regulate lipid metabolism, while the molecular mechanism remains undefined. Therefore, our objective was to define the role of MLs on the overall lipid metabolism. We conducted a feeding experiment of three groups on growing mutton sheep fed with dried mulberry leaves (DMLs), with fermented mulberry leaves (FMLs), or without MLs (as control). Analyses of transcriptome and widely target lipids demonstrated the addition of MLs triggered big perturbations in genes and metabolites related to glycerolipid, phospholipid, ether lipid, and sphingolipid metabolism. Additionally, the variations of the above lipids in the treatment of MLs possibly facilitate immunity enhancement of growing mutton sheep via the activation of complement and coagulation cascades. Furthermore, treatments with MLs could expedite proceedings of lipid degradation and fatty acid β oxidation in mitochondria, thereby to achieve the effect of lipid reduction. Besides, added DMLs also fuel fatty acid β-oxidation in peroxisomes and own much stronger lipolysis than added FMLs, possibly attributed to high fiber content in DMLs. These findings establish the novel lipid-lowering role and immune protection of MLs, which lays the foundation for the medicinal application of MLs.

Association Between High Serum Tetrahydrofolate and Low Cognitive Functions in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The relationship between serum folate status and cognitive functions is still controversial. Objective: To evaluate the association between serum tetrahydrofolate and cognitive functions. Methods: A total of 3,132 participants (60–80 years old) from the 2011–2014 NHANES were included in this cross-sectional study. The primary outcome measure was cognitive function assessment, determined by the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Word Learning Test (CERAD-WL), CERAD-Delayed Recall Test (CERAD-DR), Animal Fluency Test (AF), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and global cognitive score. Generalized linear model (GLM), multivariate logistic regression models, weighted generalized additive models (GAM), and subgroup analyses were performed to evaluate the association between serum tetrahydrofolate and low cognitive functions. Results: In GLM, and the crude model, model 1, model 2 of multivariate logistic regression models, increased serum tetrahydrofolate was associated with reduced cognitive functions via AF, DSST, CERAD-WL, CERAD-DR, and global cognitive score (p <  0.05). In GAM, the inflection points were 1.1, 2.8, and 2.8 nmol/L tetrahydrofolate, determined by a two-piece wise linear regression model of AF, DSST, and global cognitive score, respectively. Also, in GAM, there were no non-linear relationship between serum tetrahydrofolate and low cognitive functions, as determined by CERAD-WL or CERAD-DR. The results of subgroup analyses found that serum tetrahydrofolate levels and reduced cognitive functions as determined by AF had significant interactions for age and body mass index. The association between high serum tetrahydrofolate level and reduced cognitive functions as determined using DSST, CERAD-WL, CERAD-DR, or global cognitive score had no interaction with the associations between cognition and gender, or age, or so on. Conclusion: High serum tetrahydrofolate level is associated with significantly reduced cognitive function.

Sex-Specific Metabolic Effects of Dietary Folate Withdrawal in Wild-Type and Aldh1l1 Knockout Mice

ALDH1L1 (10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase), an enzyme of folate metabolism, is highly expressed in the liver. It regulates the overall flux of folate-bound one-carbon groups by converting 10-formyltetrahydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate and CO2 in a NADP+-dependent reaction. Our previous study revealed that Aldh1l1 knockout (KO) mice have an altered liver metabotype with metabolic symptoms of folate deficiency when fed a standard chow diet containing 2 ppm folic acid. Here we performed untargeted metabolomic analysis of liver and plasma of KO and wild-type (WT) male and female mice fed for 16 weeks either standard or folate-deficient diet. OPLS-DA, a supervised multivariate technique that was applied to 6595 and 10,678 features for the liver and plasma datasets, respectively, indicated that genotype and diet, alone or in combination, gave distinct metabolic profiles in both types of biospecimens. A more detailed analysis of affected metabolic pathways based on most confidently identified metabolites in the liver and plasma (OL1 and OL2a ontology level) indicated that the dietary folate restriction itself does not fully recapitulate the metabolic effect of the KO. Of note, dietary folate withdrawal enhanced the metabolic perturbations linked to the ALDH1L1 loss only for a subset of metabolites. Importantly, both the ALDH1L1 loss and dietary folate deficiency produced sex-specific metabolic effects.