Longitudinal neuroprotective effects of periconceptional folic acid supplements in help-seeking youth with psychiatric symptoms and healthy controls

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R01 · $825,937 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

The prenatal environment contributes substantially to risk for serious mental illnesses that can emerge decades after birth. As such, prenatal life may be a propitious time to intervene in ways that reduce risk. Indeed, replicated, robust evidence from recent public health studies associates early prenatal exposure to folic acid with an approximately 50% reduction in autism risk. Further, our recent work associated increased fetal exposure to population-wide folic acid fortification of grain products with specific changes in brain development, characterized by delayed thinning of the cerebral cortex during adolescence and associated reduction in risk for psychosis symptoms. These changes were most pronounced in regions subserving frontoparietal control and limbic networks, which have been broadly implicated across categories of psychiatric illness, and specifically linked to variation in blood folate levels in healthy adults and patients with schizophrenia by our group. These findings are unprecedented, and of potentially substantial

Key facts

NIH application ID
10051748
Project number
1R01MH120402-01A1
Recipient
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
Principal Investigator
ALYSA E DOYLE
Activity code
R01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$825,937
Award type
1
Project period
2020-08-01 → 2025-05-31