Analyses in blood of dermatological patients. I. Glutathione and glutathione reductase.

Glutathione was estimated in 98 blood samples from dermatological patients; in only two cases, both of contact eczema, a value considerably below normal was found. Glutathione reductase was assayed in blood samples from 139 different patients and 21 normal controls. The activity was significantly higher in atopic dermatitis (17 patients). A significantly greater variable was found among patients with non methotrexate-treated psoriasis (44), light sensitivity (12) and scleroderma (5). In the methotrexate-treated psoriatic group (24) and mean and variability did not differ significantly from normal. In most hospitalized patients a low glutathione reductase activity rose within a few weeks, but in a case of dermatitis herpetiformis a very low level persisted for 3 months. Blood samples with very low glutathione reductase activity, taken from a case of psoriasis and from a patient on griseofulvin treatment, gave a positive peroxide test and tended to hemolyze; these returned to normal together with the glutathione reductase activity.