3-Deazaadenosine, a Stabilizer of Whole-Blood Homocysteine Content, Does Not Interfere with the Single-Enzyme Homocysteine Assay while Totally Inhibiting the Enzyme Conversion Homocysteine Immunoassay

摘要

Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and possibly other diseases (1). Release of homocysteine (Hcy) from erythrocytes into the plasma before measurement remains a problem. The erythrocyte continues to carry out methylation reactions at room temperature in whole blood, producing and exporting Hcy as an end product while the blood is waiting for processing or during delivery. Export of Hcy from erythrocytes into the plasma is time- and temperature-dependent (2). At room temperature, the increase in plasma tHcy is ～ 1.0 μmol · L?1 · h?1 (2). This corresponds to an ～10% increase per hour in a typical sample containing 10 μmol/L tHcy. Therefore, at present, the accuracy of Hcy measurements is compromised even when the plasma is separated within 1 h of sample collection (2). Hill et al. (3 …