Striatal Glutathione Deficit in Parkinson’s Disease Measured In Vivo with J-edited  1H MRS Directly Implicates Oxidative Stress in Disorder Pathophysiology

Postmortem studies of Parkinson’s disease (PD) brain have consistently reported deficits of nigrostriatal glutathione (GSH) – the most abundant antioxidant in living tissue – of up to 40% compared to normal brain, strongly implicating oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of PD. However, direct evidence corroborating a striatal GSH deficit in PD brain in vivo is currently lacking. Using J-edited ¹H MRS, this study measured striatal GSH in vivo in patients with PD and in matched control subjects, and found not only a 15% deficit of striatal GSH in PD that corroborated postmortem data, but also evidence of nigrostriatal neurodegeneration in the disorder.