EFFECT OF DEFICIENCY IN MAN 



pernicious anaemia patients also responded. T. D. Spies and his 

 colleagues ^' also stated that pernicious anaemia, as well as sprue and 

 nutritional macrocytic anaemia, responded satisfactorily to conjugates. 

 On the other hand, it has been pointed out that conjugates are difficult 

 to prepare and may well be contaminated with free folic acid. It has 

 also been shown, as already noted, that the gastric juice in sprue 

 resembles that in normal subjects and, in that event, it is not sur- 

 prising that conjugates should be effective in sprue. 



Efifect of Folic Acid on Other Blood Disorders 



Folic acid was used successfully on two cases of agranulocytosis, 

 the granulocytes returning to the blood-stream within forty-eight 

 hours. 3^ When, however, folic acid was given, together with pyri- 

 doxine, to a group of patients suffering from granulocytopenia following 

 treatment with sulphonamides, only half gave a response and this was 

 not maintained in many of the cases. ^^ In another series of cases of 

 agranulocytosis,^^** the apparent response to folic acid was actually 

 proved to be due to spontaneous remission. 



The liver L. casei factor was also used successfully in the treatment 

 of leucopenia following radiation therapy,*^ although no response was 

 obtained in patients with refractory macrocytic anaemias. Folic acid 

 was also given to patients receiving deep X-ray treatment for various 

 conditions ; many had less nausea, vomiting and depressive symptoms 

 than a control group.^^ It has been stated,^^" however, that folic 

 acid has no effect on X-ray induced anaemia. 



Folic Acid and Cancer 



Although folic acid appeared to inhibit the growth of certain types 

 of tumour in experimental animals, pteroyldiglutamic acid and 

 pteroyltriglutamic acid had no effect on the cancer in cases of advanced 

 neoplastic disease, although the patients experienced some subjective 

 improvement. ^2 This may be due to an analgesic effect, however, as 

 the triglutamate is said to increase the pain threshold in man.*^ 



References to Section lo 



1. J. L. Berry, T. D. Spies and C. A. Coan, Southern Med. J., 1945, 



38, 590. 



2. T. D. Spies, C. F. Vilter, M. B. Koch and M. H. Caldwell, ibid., 



707. 



3. C. F. Vilter, T. D. Spies and M. B. Koch, ibid., 781. 



4. T. D. Spies, Lancet, 1946, 1, 225 ; /. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1946' 



130, 474. 



5. C. V. Moore. O. S. Bierbaum, A. D. Welch and L. D. Wright, 



/. Lab. Clin. Med., 1945, 30, 1056. 



501 



