Male Mice Tolerate Dosages of Pteroylglutamic Acid ∗ Lethal to Females

Summary and Conclusion

Male mice are much more resistant than female mice to injections of high dosages of folic acid.

Male mice were only slightly affected by single subdermal injections of 5 mg of folic acid. Female mice receiving the same dosage averaged a 10% loss in body weight followed by a slow recovery.

There were no deaths in a group of male mice receiving 15 to 40 mg in a single injection of folic acid. The same dosages administered to female mice were rapidly lethal in every instance.