ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation between serum homocysteine (Hcy) and macrophage migration inhibitory factor(MIF) with carotid atherosclerosis and between serum Hcy and MIF ,and to study whether serum Hcy influence the carotid atherosclerosis formation by MIF .Methods 258 inpatients and outpatients were performed the color ultrasound examination to ob-serve the carotid arterial vascular anatomic form ,endomembrane circumstance ,plaque and the plaque echo nature ,and the carotid in-tima-media thickness(IMT) was measured .According to the results of color ultrasound ,the cases were divided into three groups :IMT normal group(control group) ,thickening group and plaque group .According to the plaque echo characteristics ,the plaque group was redivided into two subgroups :stable plaque group and unstable plaque group .Serum Hcy and MIF levels and biochemical parameters were measured simultaneously in all cases .The differences of serum Hcy and MIF levels were compared between groups .The correlation coefficients among serum Hcy levels ,MIF levels and IMT were calculated .Results The serum Hcy and MIF levels in the control group ,thickening group and plaque group were increased in turn ,the difference among groups was statisti-cally significant(P<0 .01);which in the unstable plaque group was significantly higher than that in the stable plaque group ,the difference between them was statistically significant (P<0 .01) .The positive correlation was found among serum Hcy levels ,serum MIF levels and IMT (r=0 .584 ,0 .562 ,0 .607 ,P<0 .01) .Conclusion The serum Hcy and MIF levels are closely related with the carotid atherosclerosis degree and the plaque stability ;the serum Hcy and MIF levels are positively correlated with the carotid arte-rial IMT ;serum Hcy is positively correlated with the MIF level ,Hcy may cause the carotid atherosclerosis formation via MIF .