title: Effect of glutathione administration on serum levels of reactive oxygen metabolites in patients with paraquat intoxication: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Based on preliminary in vitro data from a previous study, we proposed that 50 mg/kg glutathione (GSH) would be adequate for suppressing reactive oxygen species in patients with acute paraquat (PQ) intoxication.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum levels of reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM) were measured before and after the administration of 50 mg/kg GSH to each of five patients with acute PQ intoxication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In one patient, extremely high pretreatment ROM levels began to decrease prior to GSH administration. However, in the remaining four cases, ROM levels did not change significantly prior to GSH administration. ROM levels decreased significantly after GSH administration in all cases. In two cases, ROM levels decreased below that observed in the general population; one of these patients died after a cardiac arrest at 3 hours after PQ ingestion, while the other represented the sole survivor of PQ intoxication observed in this study. In the survivor, ROM levels decreased during the first 8 hours of GSH treatment, and finally dropped below the mean ROM level observed in the general population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment with 50 mg/kg GSH significantly suppressed serum ROM levels in PQ-intoxicated patients. However, this dose was not sufficient to suppress ROM levels when the PQ concentration was extremely high.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Medical College, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyo-Wook
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Jong-Oh
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Eun-Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sae-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005978:Glutathione / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000506:poisoning; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010269:Paraquat / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000506:poisoning*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000097:blood*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D006540:Herbicides; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D005978:Glutathione; D010269:Paraquat