Arteriosclerosis due to homocyst (e) inemia. Failure to reproduce the model in weanling rabbits.

Abstract

Weanling rabbits were injected subcutaneously daily for 35 days with homocysteine thiolactone in an attempt to repeat the results of McCully and Ragsdale. We failed to produce sustained homocyst(e)inemia (or homocysteine thiolactonemia); indeed, transient homocyst(e)inemia could only be demonstrated with a much higher dose of the free base of homocysteine given intraperitoneally. Homocysteine thiolactonemia was observed up to 15 minutes, only after an intravenous injection of homocysteine thiolactone. Analysis of urine and various organs for free amino acids also failed to detect homocyst(e)ine or the thiolactone. Morphologically, we were unable to distinguish between the experimental and control animals.