Glutathione As Biomarker for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

Brain imaging is one of the main obstacles of modern disease diagnostics since it must allow accurate and quantitative measurements on a living organ that is placed in adults (in neonatal humans’ skull penetration is somewhat easier) inside a bone cage. Inside is the brain, the main function controller of our body that must be done in a non- invasive way on the living operation brain. Many spectroscopic methods are trying to overcome the difficult access to the brain: Photoacoustic microscopy, Confocal microscopy, Two-photon microscopy, Optical coherence tomography, Scanning Laser Acoustic Microscopy, Acoustic microscopy, Ultrasonography, positron tomography, fluorescence methods, photo caustic microscopy and multi (two) photon imaging spectroscopy. The situation is complex since the brain is wrapped in the blood brain barrier allowing only selected molecules to pass from the blood stream to and out of the brain. In this chapter, we will survey the current situation of brain diagnostics with the aid of the spectroscopic methods. Brain research is integrated in aging research as a major area of interest. Aging is in most cased coupled with the loss of brain function and dementia. The neurodegenerative diseases, although identified by Dr. Alzheimer and his collaborators more than a century ago, continue as the leading causes of mortality among the elderly. Brain research in trying to give hope to those people but unfortunately our understanding in this area is limited. Oxidative stress contributes to neurodegenerative diseases pathophysiology and progression. The target was to describe central and peripheral metabolites of redox metabolism and to describe correlations between glutathione status, age, and disease severity.