Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Glutathione reduced in brains of MS patients

More articles are confirming my theory that oxidative stress, a marker for sick mitochondria, are an important driver in progressive or worsening MS. A recent article was published in "Science Direct" which found that glutathione is present in statistically smaller amounts in the brains of people with MS than age matched controls. That is consistent with my theory that oxidative stress is a problem for many with MS.

The abstact is posted below.
Detection of glutathione (GSH) is technically challenging at clinical field strengths of 1.5 or 3 T due to its low concentration in the human brain coupled with the fact that conventional single-echo acquisitions, typically used for magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy acquisitions, cannot be used to resolve GSH given its overlap with other resonances. In this study, an MR spectral editing scheme was used to generate an unobstructed detection of GSH at 7 T. This technique was used to obtain normative white (WM) and gray matter (GM) GSH concentrations over a two-dimensional region. Results indicated that GSH was significantly higher (P<.001) in GM relative to WM in normal subjects. This finding is consistent with previous radionuclide experiments and histochemical staining and validates this 7 T MR spectroscopy technique. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report normative differences in WM and GM glutathione concentrations in the human brain. Glutathione is a biomarker for oxidative status and this non-invasive in vivo measurement of GSH was used to explore its sensitivity to oxidative state in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. There was a significant reduction (P<.001) of GSH between the GM in MS patients and normal controls. No statistically significant GSH differences were found between the WM in controls and MS patients. Reduced GSH was also observed in a MS WM lesion. This preliminary investigation demonstrates the potential of this marker to probe oxidative state in MS.

How does one reduce oxidative stress? Eat 9 cups of vegetables and fruit. Three cups of cruciferous vegetables (especially kale or collards), 1 to 2 cups of onion, garlic and or mushrooms and 3 cups of brightly colored vegetables and fruit.

More details on how to improve one's oxidative status and health of one's mitochondria can be found in my book, Minding My Mitochondria. I've have just gotten it back from the printers and so it is now available on my web site www.terrywahls.com. The book reviews how the mitochondria support brain health, remove toxins and the key nutrients needed for optimal mitochondrial health. It also has 40 plus recipes which are mitochondria and brain healthy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr. William Code also emphasizes that he attributes about 30% of his recovery to raising glutathione. I have been increasing my intake of antioxidant vegetables, but my environmental illness doctor has long told me to nebulize glutathione for faster results. It is only now that I am starting to do this because there is finally a company producing affordable reduced glutathione to nebulize at home. The only thing I have noticed so far on 200 mg is being hungry in the morning... but I have not up to the therapeutic dose of 600 to 800 mg.

Randy said...

This is a wonderful article. Dr. Code who was mentioned before is amazing as well.