Glutathione in brain provides protection from oxidative stress. Autopsy studies have shown that glutathione levels are significantly reduced in substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson disease. In this study, we demonstrate the measurement of glutathione with MR spectroscopy in the human substantia nigra in vivo at 7T. Short echo-time STEAM pulse sequence was used to obtain high SNR spectra from Parkinson disease patients and healthy controls. Measured glutathione levels were significantly lower in patients when compared to healthy individuals.
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