Puri, B K, Agour, M, Gunatilake, K D R et al. · Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids · 2009 · DOI
This study used brain imaging to measure levels of a protective molecule called glutathione in the brains of people with ME/CFS. Researchers had expected glutathione levels to be lower in ME/CFS patients because it was reduced in their blood, but surprisingly, the brain levels were similar between patients and healthy controls. The study found no evidence that taking glutathione supplements would help with ME/CFS brain-related symptoms.
This was the first direct measurement of brain glutathione in ME/CFS patients, testing whether oxidative stress—a proposed mechanism in the disease—manifests as depleted antioxidant defenses in the brain. The results challenge the rationale for glutathione supplementation as a treatment strategy and highlight that peripheral findings in ME/CFS may not reliably reflect central nervous system pathology.
This study does not prove that oxidative stress is absent in ME/CFS—it only shows that GSH levels specifically are not reduced. It also does not establish that glutathione supplementation has no benefit, only that restoring brain GSH levels may not be its mechanism. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether GSH abnormalities exist at other brain regions, or change over disease course.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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