Oxidized Glutathione as a Test of Senescence

Abstract

Investigations in humans and rats and rabbits, concerning changes in the oxidized, reduced and total glutathione content of the blood, as related to age and to the treatment applied, have resulted in the following conclusions: In man and in animals, the oxidized glutathione content of the blood increases with advancing age. In old animals treated for a period of 21 days with cysteine or with cysteine associated with vitamin B6, vitamin B12 or folic acid, oxidized glutathione concentrations were found to decrease towards the values proper to younger animals. Sodium glutamate treatment applied to old animals did not result in any change of oxidized glutathione concentrations. Cysteine or cysteine + folic acid treatment applied to humans (57-82 years of age) for a period of 6 months resulted in a decrease of oxidized glutathione figures towards the values proper to young subjects. Xylocaine treatment applied under the same conditions to human control groups did not cause oxidized glutathione figures to decrease but, on the contrary, increased them. From the changes recorded in the oxidized glutathione contents of the blood, as related to age and treatment, it may be inferred that oxidized glutathione determinations may afford a biochemical test of senescence and of the efficacy of drugs interfering in oxidation-reduction processes, as used for therapeutic purposes in old subjects.