Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 155, No. 1, 01 1997, 374-377.
Alveolar fluid glutathione is not reduced in asymptomatic HIV- seropositive subjects
ER Pacht, P Diaz, T Clanton, J Hart and JE Gadek
Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, USA.
Glutathione is an important antioxidant tripeptide that is found in high
concentrations in the epithelial lining fluid (ELF) of the lung. Previous
investigators demonstrated a deficiency of glutathione (GSH) in the
epithelial lining fluid of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- seropositive
patients. The current investigation performed bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
on 59 asymptomatic HIV-seropositive subjects (mean CD4: 365.9 +/- 31.2
cells/mm3) and 12 normal control subjects. The volume of ELF and the
concentration of glutathione and oxidized glutathione were determined. The
concentration of total GSH in ELF was not significantly different in
HIV-seropositive individuals compared with normal subjects (628.1 +/- 63.9
microM versus 499.9 +/- 86.0 microM, p = 0.38). However, there was a
significantly higher concentration of ELF GSH in HIV-seropositive cigarette
smokers (n = 30) compared with nonsmokers (n = 29) (800.3 +/- 107.7 microM
versus 443.6 +/- 45.3 microM, p = 0.004). The percentage of total GSH in
the oxidized form (GSSG) was similar in both the HIV-seropositive and the
normal subject groups (3.4 +/- 0.3% versus 3.0 +/- 0.4%, p = 0.559). There
were no significant correlations between ELF GSH or GSSG concentrations and
age, CD4 count, or pulmonary function. There was, however, a significant
negative correlation between BAL lymphocyte percentage and GSH. The current
study suggests that for those patients whose HIV infection is at a
relatively early phase, the levels of GSH in the lung ELF are normal.
