PRELIMINARY STUDY ON HOMOCYSTEINE AND
EMBRYO CELL APOPTOSIS
Liu H Ye H-M, Li S, Li Y
Department of Pediatrics, Third Hospital, Peking University,
Beijing, China
Objective：Epidemiologic studies and animal experiment have shown that high
plasma homocysteine (HCY) may be associated with birth defects and HCY per
se causes dysmorphogenesis of the heart and neural tube .It has been
hypothesized that HCY can induce apoptosis in the embryos and there seems
to be the relation between apoptosis and embryo malformation.
Methods: Using in vivo
mice teratology test and in vitro rat embryonic ventricular myocytes
culture, cell apoptosis was observed at different time points by
fluorescence microscopy or electron microscope .
Results：1. The results of in
vitro rat embryonic ventricular myocytes culture indicated that with the increase
of HCY concentration, the percentage of cell apoptosis increased and
reached its maximum at 14 h of culture. 2. It was observed that high level
HCY (≥0.73mmol/kg)
resulted in apoptosis of
embryonic heart and brain cells in the in vivo mice teratology test.
Conclusions: HCY can
induce ventricular myocytes and brain cell apoptosis in embryos, it may
play a very important role in the mechanism of dysmorphogenesis of embryo.