Normal cerebrospinal fluid glutathione concentrations in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and multiple system atrophy.

We measured total glutathione concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of non-demented Parkinson's disease patients (PD; n=71), demented PD patients (PDD; n=13), multiple system atrophy patients (MSA; n=10), Alzheimer's disease patients (AD; n=17) and age-matched controls (n=21). No statistically significant differences in the mean total CSF glutathione concentrations were found between groups and dopaminomimetic treatment was not found to have any effect on total CSF glutathione levels. Our main conclusion is that total glutathione is not useful as a CSF marker for assumed oxidative stress in patients with PD, MSA or AD.