Homocysteine in Mexican ChildrenPrague Medical Report / Vol. 111 (2010) No. 2, p. 135–141 135)Total Homocysteine Levels in HealthyChildren from the MonterreyMetropolitan Area, MexicoDávila-Rodríguez M. I.1, Torres-De la Cruz V. M.2, Novelo-Huerta H. I.3,Said-Fernández S.2, Cerda-Flores R. M.1,4, Cortés-Gutiérrez E. I.11División de Genética, Centro de Investigación Biomédica del Noreste(CIBIN), Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Monterrey, Mexico;2Departamento de Biología Celular y Molecular, CIBIN, IMSS, Monterrey,Mexico;3Clínica de Nutrición, Facultad de Salud Pública y Nutrición (FaSPyN), UniversidadAutónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Monterrey, Mexico;4Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey,MexicoRe c e i v e d J a n u a r y 2 7 , 2 0 1 0 ; A c c e p t e d A p r i l 1 3 , 2 0 1 0 .Key words: Homocysteine – Healthy children – MexicoAbstract: Currently, there are indications for determining hyperhomocysteinemiain adulthood as risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, psychiatric disorders,pregnancy complications, birth defects, cognitive impairment in the elderly, inaddition to cancer. If hyperhomocysteinemia is determined from childhood,it may be modulated with the provision of an opportunity for public healthintervention. The objective of this descriptive study was to determine totalhomocysteine (tHcy) levels in healthy children from the Monterrey metropolitanarea in Mexico. In a peripheral-blood sample collected from 56 healthy childrenaged 2–10 years, we determined tHcy concentration by high performance liquidchromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The geometric mean ± SDwas 9.78 ± 1.73 μmol/l. tHcys of the children studied were homogeneous byage cohort and gender. Nutritional state was classified by body mass index (BMI).Sixty five percent of children who participated in the study had normal BMI, and96% of the children belong to the low socioeconomic status. In conclusion, to ourknowledge this is the first-ever information on homocysteine (Hcy) prevalence in a population of healthy Mexican children. tHcy concentration was higher than thatreported in other populations studies. This preliminary study could constitute thebaseline for future public health studies