Glutathione Content of Colonic Mucosa (Evidence for Oxidative Damage in Active Ulcerative Colitis)

Oxidative stress appears to play a role in thetissue damage of active ulcerative colitis, and it hasbeen suggested that a defect in mucosal antioxidantdefenses is a etiological factor in the disease. This study was undertaken to investigate themucosal content and oxidation state of glutathione inulcerative colitis in the active and inactive states andto examine the relationship between glutathione content and disease activity in this patientpopulation. Endoscopic biopsies of colon mucosa werecollected from normal subjects, from macroscopicallynormal tissue of patients with inactive and active ulcerative colitis, and from inflamed tissue ofpatients with active ulcerative colitis. The mucosalcontents of GSH and GSSG were determined by liquidchromatography. We found no significant differences in tissue contents of reduced glutathione amongthe four groups. The median tissue level of oxidizedglutathione in inflamed mucosa from patients with activeulcerative colitis was increased 1.7-fold (P = 0.017)over that of patients with inactive disease. Theoxidized glutathione content of the mucosa also showedsignificant positive correlations with clinical andhistological indices of disease severity among ulcerative colitis patients. Inconclusion, a change in the redox status of mucosalglutathione is associated with inflammation and diseaseactivity in ulcerative colitis. This change appears tobe a consequence of inflammation rather than apathogenic factor for the disease.