Glutathione Metabolism in Men under Psychological Stress

A VARIETY of physical stresses produce a diminution of the level of reduced gluta-thione (GSH) present in the tissues or blood of mice,8 rats,17 and men.12 Stresses of this type are known to activate the adenohypophys-eal-adrenocortical system of these animals21 and it is likely that increased production of adrenal cortical hormone resulting from the Stress is responsible for the diminution of the tissue GSH levels. This assumption is sup-ported by the fact that administration of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) or cortisone produced a similar fall in the tissue GSH levels of rats17 and men.5'10 The dimi-nution of the GSH concentration in human blood was accompanied by an equivalent rise of oxidized glutathione (GSSG). The regulation of ACTH release from the pituitary gland depends, at least in certain types of stresses, on the central nervous sys-tem.7 It is not surprising, therefore, that a wide variety of psychological stresses are like-wise capable, via cortical-hypothalamic path-ways, of stimulating the pituitary-adrena