Description of folic acid

Question

Give a brief description of folic acid? Why is anemia caused by the deficiency of folic acid recognized as megaloblastic anemia?

Answer 1

The folic acid (if ionized it is named as folate) is a coenzyme which participates in duplication and synthesis of DNA and for this reason it is essential for cell division. If there is not sufficient folic acid in cells with great turnover, like red blood cells, they have their production decreased.

In the folic acid deficiency precursor cells (or reticulocytes) which would originate erythrocytes (or red blood cells) begin cell division however the procedure is very slow while the cytoplasm growth is usual. So the cells became abnormally large a characteristic feature of this type of anemia named as megaloblastic anemia.

Megaloblastic anemia can cause also by the vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) deficiency because this vitamin is significant for cell division too. Both types of anemia are nutrient deficiency anemias. Nutrition Vitamins - Image Diversity- megaloblastic red blood cell.