Pilot results of in vivo brain glutathione measurements in stroke patients.

Measurement of glutathione concentration for the study of redox status in subjects with neurological disease has been limited to peripheral markers. We recruited 19 subjects with large strokes. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy we measured brain glutathione concentration in the stroke region and in healthy tissue to calculate a glutathione-ratio. Elevated glutathione-ratio was observed in subacute (<72 hours) subjects without hemorrhagic transformation (mean=1.19, P=0.03, n=6). No trend was seen when all subjects were considered (n=19, 3 to 754 hours, range=0.45 to 1.41). This technique can detect glutathione changes because of disease, and may be valuable in clinical trials of stroke and other neurological diseases.