Lowglutathione reductase andperoxidase activity inage-related macular degeneration

macular degeneration (ARMD) mayresult fromevents initiated byreactive oxygenspecies. Bloodsamples from18 patients withARMD and18similarly aged controls wereanalysed foractivities ofimpor- tant antioxidants. Blood glutathione reductase activity waslowerinpatients withARMD compared withcontrols (p=0035). Theactiv- ities ofglutathione peroxidase (p=018) and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (p=029) weresimilar between thetwogroups bya Student's twosample ttest. Logistic regres- sionwasusedtodetermine whichenzyme activities wereassociated withARMD after adjusting forpossible confounding variables: smoking history, age,multivitamin use,and cardiovascular disease. Glutathione reductase activity (p=0.05) andglutathione peroxidase activity (p=0065) weresignificantly associated withARMD bythis analysis. Therelation of glutathione reductase andglutathione peroxi- daseactivity toARMD merits further study. (BrJ Ophthalmol 1994; 78:791-794)