TABLE 1.

Markers of apoptosis and DNA damage in the lymphocytes of humans after a diet with 550 mg choline/d and after a choline-deficient diet¹

	Activated caspase-3	TUNEL	COMET	Lymphocyte count	Plasma folate
	integrated OD/mg DNA	% cells positive	tail moment	× 106/mL	nmol/L
Baseline diet (n = 51)	11.5 ± 1.2	1.6 ± 0.2	1.0 ± 0.1	2.3 ± 0.1	26.0 ± 0.9
Low-choline diet
Organ dysfunction, 100 DFE (n = 17)	21.5 ± 3.92	4.2 ± 0.92	2.2 ± 0.2	2.1 ± 0.2	20.7 ± 1.62
Organ dysfunction, 768 DFE (n = 16)	15.6 ± 4.02	2.0 ± 0.4	2.1 ± 0.2	2.2 ± 0.1	28.2 ± 1.7
No organ dysfunction, 100 DFE (n = 8)	5.2 ± 1.0	3.3 ± 1.32	1.7 ± 0.2	2.4 ± 0.2	23.0 ± 2.42
No organ dysfunction, 768 DFE (n = 10)	11.0 ± 2.7	2.4 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 0.2	2.2 ± 0.3	27.1 ± 2.0

¹All values are x̄ ±SE. OD, optical density; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end-labeling; COMET, single-cell gel electrophoresis; DFE, dietary folate equivalents. Subjects were fed a diet providing 550 mg choline/70 kg body wt daily (baseline) for 10 d and were then fed a low-choline diet diet for up to 42 d. They were randomly assigned to receive only dietary folate (100 DFE/d) or dietary folate plus a daily folic acid supplement (combined intake: 768 DFE/d) while consuming a choline-deficient diet. The organ dysfunction×folate interaction was not significant; thus, a 2-wayANOVA based on the differences between measurements at the end of the baseline and choline-deficient periods was used to compare the groups.

²Significantly different from all other choline-deficient groups, P < 0.05.