ABSTRACT
Maternal nutrition plays an important role in the proper neurodevelopment of mammals, particularly humans. Of all the important nutrients in the maternal diet, folate and other B vitamins are the most implicated dietary factors for preventing neural tube defects and perhaps other neurodevelopmental disorders, but their mechanisms of action are likely complex. This chapter reviews the biochemistry and genetics of folate and B vitamin metabolism, as well as the neurodevelopmental disorders with known or suspected genetic causes in which folate supplementation or administration has been tested. The emerging role of DNA methylation as an epigenetic mechanism important for normal neurodevelopment and the development of multiple neurodevelopmental disorders are discussed. Folate and other B vitamins may impact the essential pathways required for establishing and maintaining high global levels of DNA methylation and histone methylation during the critical periconception window of dynamic epigenetic changes in the mammalian genome.
