Objective: To study the protective effect of reduced glutathione (GSH) on multiple organ function in patient with acute pancreatitis.
Methods: A total of 45 patients with acute pancreatitis was randomly divided into two groups, 22 patients were given GSH in a dose of 1.2 g/d through intravenous drip for 7 days as GSH group, and 23 patients were not given GSH to serve as control group. The same treatment was given to both groups other than GSH. Plasma contents of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and biochemistry indexes were determined.
Results: After the treatment, the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were significantly decreased in both groups (all P<0.05). The levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were decreased much more obviously in GSH group compared with those in control group (P<0.05). Plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), and MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB) were significantly decreased in both treatment groups, but the decrease of all these indexes was more marked in GSH group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The results suggest that GSH has beneficial effects in protecting visceral organ function in patients with acute pancreatitis.