Intracellular and Extracellular Redox Status and Free Radical Generation in Primary Immune Cells from Children with Autism

Table 3

Extracellular (plasma) glutathione and cysteine redox status.

Metabolite	Case children		Control children		Corrected 𝑍-test
	𝑛	Mean ± SD	𝑛	Mean ± SD	Difference; (95% CI)	𝑃 value
Plasma
GSH (μM)	38	1.58±0.23	41	1.99±0.22	−0.41 (−0.50, −0.31)	<0.001
GSSG (μM)	38	0.20±0.06	41	0.13±0.04	0.07 (0.05, 0.09)	<0.001
GSH/GSSG	38	8.24±2.20	41	17.14±5.54	−8.73 (−10.52, −6.94)	<0.001
Oxidized GSH (%)	38	0.20±0.05	41	0.11±0.03	0.09 (0.07, 0.10)	<0.001
𝐸ℎ for GSH		−116 mV		−128 mV
Cysteine (μM)	41	21.7±4.88	41	21.43±4.08	0.13 (−1.88, 2.14)	0.90
Cystine (μM)	41	29.2±10.6	41	19.26±4.8	9.73 (6.25, 13.2)	<0.001
Cysteine/Cystine	41	0.79±0.18	41	1.14±0.18	−0.33 (−0.41, −0.26)	<0.001
𝐸ℎ for Cysteine		−106 mV		−111 mV

GSH: glutathione; GSSG: oxidized glutathione disulfide; 𝐸_ℎ: steady-state redox potential; 𝐸_ℎ for GSH: −264 mV +(30mV)∗log([GSSG]/[GSH]²); 𝐸_ℎ for cysteine: −250mV+(30mV)∗log([CySSCy]/[Cys]²).