| First Author | Devlin AM | Year | 2004 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 2624-9 |
| PubMed ID | 14630804 | Mgi Jnum | J:89039 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3038006 | Doi | 10.1182/blood-2003-09-3078 |
| Citation | Devlin AM, et al. (2004) Effect of Mthfr genotype on diet-induced hyperhomocysteinemia and vascular function in mice. Blood 103(7):2624-9 |
| abstractText | Deficiency of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) predisposes to hyperhomocysteinemia and vascular disease. We tested the hypothesis that heterozygous disruption of the Mthfr gene sensitizes mice to diet-induced hyperhomocysteinemia and endothelial dysfunction. Mthfr(+/-) and Mthfr(+/+) mice were fed 1 of 4 diets: control, high methionine (HM), low folate (LF), or high methionine/low folate (HM/LF). Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) was higher with the LF and HM/LF diets than the control (P<.01) or HM (P<.05) diets, and Mthfr(+/-) mice had higher tHcy than Mthfr(+/+) mice (P<.05). With the control diet, the S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) ratio was lower in the liver and brain of Mthfr(+/-) mice than Mthfr(+/+) mice (P<.05). SAM/SAH ratios decreased further in Mthfr(+/+) or Mthfr(+/-) mice fed LF or LF/HM diets (P<.05). In cerebral arterioles, endothelium-dependent dilation to 1 or 10 microM acetylcholine was markedly and selectively impaired with the HM/LF diet compared with the control diet for both Mthfr(+/+) (maximum dilation 5% +/- 2% versus 21% +/- 4%; P<.01) and Mthfr(+/-) (6% +/- 2% versus 21% +/- 3%; P<.01) mice. These findings demonstrate that the Mthfr(+/-) genotype sensitizes mice to diet-induced hyperhomocysteinemia and that hyperhomocysteinemia alters tissue methylation capacity and impairs endothelial function in cerebral microvessels. |
