SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENT OF REDUCED AND OXIDIZED GLUTATHIONE IN HUMANAQUEOUS-HUMOR AND CATARACTS BY ELECTROCHEMICAL DETECTION

A sensitive, electrochemical method was employed for the simultaneous measurement of reduced and oxidized glutathione in lens cortex, nucleu s and capsule epithelia of rabbit lenses, normal human lenses and huma n cataracts. In addition, aqueous humor from cataract patients was als o analyzed. The level of GSSG in the nucleus of human cataracts was si gnificantly higher than that in the nucleus of normal eye bank lenses. The capsule epithelium of intracapsular extracted cataracts possessed high levels of reduced glutathione, despite the fact that much of the glutathione in the cortex and nucleus of the lenses was depleted. Lev els of GSH in the aqueous humor of cataract patients were several time s higher than those reported for normal aqueous humor. Electrochemical detection proved to be a useful technique for analysis of reduced and oxidized glutathione in lens and aqueous humor, especially when sampl ed size is small, such as for capsule epithelium.