I. Nemeth et D. Boda, BLOOD GLUTATHIONE REDOX RATIO AS A PARAMETER OF OXIDATIVE STRESS IN PREMATURE-INFANTS WITH IRDS, Free radical biology & medicine, 16(3), 1994, pp. 347-353
Oxygen toxicity is thought to play an important pathogenic role in sev
eral neonatal diseases, including idiopathic respiratory distress synd
rome (IRDS). Therefore, the development of a reliable measure of the a
ctual oxidative stress status of patients would be of great clinical s
ignificance. In order to obtain information about the oxidative stress
during the first week of life in premature infants with IRDS, the blo
od concentrations of oxidized and reduced glutathione, as well as thei
r molar ratios, were determined by a highly sensitive, specific enzymi
c assay: The fractional inspired oxygen concentrations needed to maint
ain adequat arterial oxygen tension and the arterio-alveolar oxygen ra
tios were chosen as parameters indicating the severity of illness in p
remature infants at a given time. There was a highly significant posit
ive correlation between the glutathione redox ratios and the fractiona
l inspired oxygen concentrations. A maturity-related difference was al
so found; the oxidized glutathione concentrations were the highest in
the least mature infants, accompanied by a pronounced compensatory ris
e in the reduced glutathione concentrations as well. A significant neg
ative correlation was found between the arterio-alveolar oxygen ratio
and the glutathione redox ratio: i.e., an improvement in oxygenation w
as accompanied by a decrease in the glutathione redox ratio. The effic
ient recycling of reduced glutathione in erythrocytes providing antiox
idant protection for premature infants, permits the use of the blood g
lutathione redox ratio as a noninvasive measure of in vivo oxidative s
tress.