Alzheimer disease: homocysteine and alzheimer disease: an intervention study.

摘要

The sulfur-containing amino acid homo-cysteine is of interest to neurologists for many reasons. Hyperhomocysteinemia-an abnormally high blood homocysteine level-was first recognized.as a risk factor for vascular disease over 40 years ago. Since then, a steady stream of reports has linked homocysteine to atherosclerotic disease of coronary, cerebral and peripheral blood vessels, and also to microvascular disease, with implications for increased risk of stroke and small-vessel disease in the brain. Probable mechanisms for the vascular effects of elevated homocysteine levels include decreased activity of key antioxidant enzymes, increased generation of the super-oxide anion, proinflammatory expression of tumor necrosis factor and inducible nitric oxide synthase, and endothelial dysfunction.