Abstract
There has been evidence for a causal relationship between homocysteine and Alzheimer's disease for several years but the mechanism is unclear. In vivo, some homocysteine is converted to the thiolactone. This report describes a novel reaction between homocysteine thiolactone and dehydroascorbic acid in which the homocysteine thiolactone is converted to 3-mercaptopropionaldehyde. This product is shown to react with proteins causing their precipitation (probably by cross-linking). The two reactions are extremely facile and appear to be physiologically compatible suggesting a mechanism by which homocysteine may promote the deposition of proteins in nerve cells as amyloid plaques and fibrillary tangles.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.