| A Study of Homocysteine Metabolism related Neural Tube Defect |
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Baeck Hee Lee |
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Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Choenahn, Korea |
| Homocysteine 대사와 관련된 신경관 결손에 관한 연구 |
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이백희 |
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단국대학교 의과대학 소아과학교실 |
Correspondence:
Baeck Hee Lee, Email: 1
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| Abstract |
Purpose
: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase is an important enzyme in homocysteine metabolism.
Since the identification of the gene locus and mutation of methylenetetrahydrofolate
reductase, an increasing number of reports have suggested that elevated levels of homocysteine
were associated with various kinds of arteriovascular disease and neural tube defect. Our research
plans to investigate whether elevated levels of homocysteine are more common with neural tube
defect and their family as compared to a control group. Also we did this research to bring a
better understanding of the interaction between genetic defect and nutrition.
Methods
: The study group consisted of 15 patients with meningomyelocele and 29 of their
parents. The control group consisted of 9 children under 16 years without neural tube defect and
13 parents aged between 25 to 50 years who had given birth to, at least, one normal infant. We
measured plasma homocysteine through a high performance liquid chromatography.
Results
: There was no significant elevation of plasma homocysteine in the neural tube defect
group and their family compared to the control group. The homocysteine levels were elevated in
male and with advanced age.
Conclusion
: Our research demonstrated that the influence of environmental factors such as
nutrition are also important as well as the genetic influence in homocysteine metabolism with
neural tube defect. |
| Key Words:
Meningomyelocele, Neural tube defect, Hyperhomocysteinemia, Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase |
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