Extract

Homocysteine (Hcy) has emerged as another risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease (1). Genetic abnormalities of the enzymes cystathionine-β-synthase and methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (folic acid and vitamin B6 and B12 cofactors) can cause raised plasma Hcy concentrations. Deficiencies in folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 may also contribute to this increased concentration (1)(2)(3). Consequently, patients with coronary heart disease have been treated successfully with folic acid, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 (1), but the benefit of such treatment in reducing morbid cardiovascular endpoints is presently unknown (3).

A widely used technique for measuring total plasma Hcy is reversed-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection after derivatization of plasma thiols (4)(5)(6). Some studies use gas chromatography–mass spectrometry techniques (7) with various derivatization protocols (8).

The increasing demand for the determination of plasma total Hcy prompted us to develop a rapid, automated method based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) and laser-induced fluorescence detection (LIF) , in which all specific thiols are detected selectively.

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