Quantitative analysis of glutathione in rat central nervous system: comparison of GSH in infant brain with that in adult brain.

Reduced glutathione (GSH) plays an important role in cellular protection against damage from free radicals and other electrophiles. GSH in the rat central nervous system was quantitatively analyzed. In adult brain, tissue from the cerebellum and cerebrum had higher GSH levels than that from the brainstem and spinal cord. Infant cerebrum and cerebellum contained lower levels of GSH than adult cerebrum and cerebellum. These data seem to suggest that the brainstem and spinal cord in adults, and the cerebrum and cerebellum in infants, are more vulnerable to injury by free radical-like radiation than the cerebrum and cerebellum in adults.