Homocysteine in Serum/Plasma - HPLC

Clinical relevance

Homocysteine (Hcy) is a non-proteinogenic amino acid, synthesized during the demethylation of the amino acid methionine. Some enzymes are involved in this process, which require cofactors such as vitamin B₆ and vitamin B₁₂. A deficiency of these cofactors can lead to an increase in the Hcy concentration, but inherited genetic mutations may also be the cause.

Even moderately increased Hcy levels are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis and coronary heart diseases. Increased Hcy levels are also detected in the case of homocystinuria, an inherited genetic disorder in which the enzymes required for metabolism are not present or at levels that are too low. In this case, already newborns have high levels of Hcy, however, the disease is treatable if detected in time. Screening of newborns (NBS) for homocystinuria has therefore become mandatory in some European countries such as Ireland. In Germany it is only performed as part of more intensive screening or in cases where the disease is suspected.

Product advantages

• Fast sample preparation
• Short analysis time
• Column lifetime of more than 2000 runs
• For all blood collection systems

This assay allows the simple and reliable determination of total homocysteine in serum/plasma. Sample preparation is simply a reduction step for releasing homocysteine from its protein binding, followed by precipitation and subsequent precolumn derivatisation. Chromatographic separation is performed on an isocratic HPLC system with fluorescence detection. The optimised reagents ensure the accurate and reliable quantification of total homocysteine for all blood collection systems within a brief analysis period of less than 6 minutes.