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Nutrition and Disease

Plasma S-Adenosylhomocysteine Is a Better Biomarker of Atherosclerosis Than Homocysteine in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice Fed High Dietary Methionine^1,2

Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University (Northern Campus), Guangzhou 510080, P. R. China

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lingwh{at}mail.sysu.edu.cn.

Homocysteine (Hcy) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) are critical intermediates of methionine metabolism. To investigate which, if either, of these compounds is more closely related to atherosclerosis, we fed 5 groups of apolipoprotein E (apoE)-deficient mice different diets for 8 wk to induce changes in their plasma Hcy and AdoHcy concentrations. These included an AIN-93G control diet (C), this C diet supplemented with methionine (M), the M diet deficient in folates, vitamin B-6, and vitamin B-12 (M–V), this M diet supplemented with these B vitamins (M+V), and a C diet deficient in B vitamins (C–V). Compared with controls, mice fed the C–V diet had a moderate elevation in their plasma total Hcy (tHcy) levels; however, their plasma AdoHcy concentration and atherosclerotic lesion areas were not different. In contrast, the mice fed the M+V diet had larger atherosclerotic lesion areas and elevated plasma AdoHcy concentrations but their plasma tHcy concentration did not differ from that of the group C mice. The plasma AdoHcy concentration and aortic sinus lesion areas were positively correlated (r = 0.866; P < 0.001). We observed a negative correlation between the plasma AdoHcy concentration and both the DNA methyltransferase activity (r = –0.792; P < 0.001) and global DNA methylation status (r = –0.824; P < 0.001) in the aortic tissue. Hence, our study suggests that plasma AdoHcy is a better biomarker of atherosclerosis than Hcy and may accelerate the development of atherosclerotic lesions in apoE-deficient mice that have been fed a high methionine diet. The mechanisms underlying this effect may be related to the AdoHcy-mediated inhibition of DNA methylation in the aortic tissue.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Wagner and M. J. Koury Plasma S-Adenosylhomocysteine Versus Homocysteine as a Marker for Vascular Disease J. Nutr., May 1, 2008; 138(5): 980 - 980. [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Liu and W. Ling Reply to Drs. Wagner and Koury J. Nutr., May 1, 2008; 138(5): 981 - 981. [Full Text] [PDF]