Cryoprotected Lactobacillus casei: an approach to standardization of microbiological assay of folic acid in serum.

Folate-depleted, cryoprotected preparations of Lactobacillus casei are stable for at least eight months at -18 degrees C, capable of reproducible growth and suitable as a ready source of inoculum for measurement of folates in physiological fluids. Cryoprotected microorganisms can be a commercially available laboratory reagent, thus simplifying and further standardizing the microbiological assay of various nutriments. Standard folate growth curves of cryoprotected L. casei, prepared at intervals over eight months, are superimposable, have a low blank, and should eliminate the variations encountered with the continuous passages of microorganisms required for the classic microbiological assays. Serum folate values obtained by use of the cryoprotected L. casei fall into the same diagnostic groups as determined by the classic microbiological assay.