TY - JOUR T1 - Plasma Homocysteine Concentrations in Novel Microminipigs JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 579 LP - 582 VL - 28 IS - 4 AU - TOSHIAKI KAKIMOTO AU - AKIRA OTSUKA AU - HIROAKI KAWAGUCHI AU - KENJI OGATA AU - AKIHIDE TANIMOTO AU - HIROAKI KANOUCHI Y1 - 2014/07/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/28/4/579.abstract N2 - A novel microminipig has been recently developed for use in biomedical research. In the present study, age- and sex-related differences, as well as 24-h fluctuations in plasma total homocysteine concentrations (tHcy), were investigated in these microminipigs. tHcy (mean±SD) was 10.2±3.4 μM and significantly correlated with age. By contrast, neither the differences in tHcy between sexes nor the 24-h fluctuations in tHcy after feeding were significant. The kinetics of plasma tHcy after intravenous injection of reduced Hcy showed that its levels peaked within 5 min post-injection, as did the levels of tHcy. These results suggested that reduced Hcy is rapidly oxidized or metabolized. The half-lives of reduced Hcy, tHcy, and reduced cysteine in the blood were 47, 71, and 141 min, respectively. In conclusion, there was a significantly positive correlation between age and plasma tHcy in microminipigs. After intravenous injection of reduced Hcy, plasma tHcy quickly returned to pre-injection levels. ER -