Increased levels of erythrocyte glutathione in acute myocardial infarction: an antioxidant defence.

OBJECTIVE Glutathione (GSH) has a central role in the defence against oxidative damage. This study was carried out to investigate any change in erythrocyte GSH levels in a population of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and compare them with levels in normal healthy subjects. METHOD GSH levels were determined in erythrocytes of one hundred and seventy six patients with AMI (age: 30-70 years; 131 males and 45 females) admitted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi. These levels were compared with eryrocyte GSH levels obtained from 95 normal healthy subjects (controls). RESULTS Mean +/- SD erythrocyte GSH levels in AMI patients and controls were found to be 2.34 +/- 0.62 micromol/ml of packed cells and 2.08+/- 0.62 micromol/ml of packed cells, respectively. The two values when compared with one way ANOVA were found to be significantly different (p=0.001). Age had little effect on erythrocyte GSH levels in both AMI patients and normal healthy subjects. CONCLUSION Increased production of reactive oxygen species is a feature of cardiovascular disease, such as AMI and cells can respond to mild oxidative stress by upregulating antioxidant defence in terms of increased production of GSH.