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The effect of early folic acid deprivation on later growth and susceptibility to Shigella infection

Early, brief environmental factors may have lasting effects on growth rate, adult size and responses to stress. Nutritional de privation is one of these events. Newborn guinea pigs fed a folic acid-deficient diet for 14 days are susceptible to fatal infection with Shigella flexneri while optimally-fed control animals are resistant. (J. Infect. Dis. 121:275, 1970). To test the hypothesis that animals subjected to a brief period of folic-acid deficiency as newborns would show enhanced susceptibility to Shigella challenge later in life after resuming a normal diet, newborn guinea pigs randomized for sex and litter were assigned to a control group receiving optimal diet or to a test group fed the folate deficient diet for 14 days and subsequently given optimal diet. 27% of animals (9/33) receiving deficient diet died unexpectedly and without obvious cause shortly after being offered standard diet. Possibly metabolic readjustments led to fatal biochemical derangements. At 45, 75, 105 or 135 days of age when selected animals were challenged with Shigella, there was only transient fecal shedding and no differences existed between the test and control groups. There was a profound and lasting effect of early folic acid deprivation on subsequent growth. Between 125–149 days of age the average weight of the control group was 856g and of the early-deprivation group 649g. Aside from smaller body size the early-deprivation animals appeared healthy. Although previous studies have shown similar growth retardation from early periods of protein or caloric restriction and from incomplete protein feeding, it has not been noted previously with a specific dietary dificiency such as folic acid.