Bipolar disorder and Salivary Glutathione
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Saliva levels of glutathione (GSH) in patients with bipolar disorder
IRAS ID
204950
Contact name
Philip Cowen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Patients with bipolar disorder are known to have altered oxidative status which is usually estimated by measuring a natural compound called glutathione in blood. Work using blood measures demonstrates that as a group, bipolar patients have low levels of glutathione, showing impaired oxidative status. However, work of this nature obviously requires a blood test and the measurement itself is is technically demanding and time consuming. Recent work in the Department of Chemistry in Oxford has led to the development of a simple and rapid method for measuring glutathione in saliva. The ability to carry out meaningful measures of glutathione in saliva would make it much easier to use oxidative status as a means of predicting treatment and prognosis in patients with bipolar disorder. However, we do not yet know whether measurement of glutathione in saliva will be able to detect oxidative status in bipolar patients as well as the blood test. The aim of the research, therefore, is to find out if glutathione levels in saliva are low in a group of bipolar patients. The work will take place in the University of Oxford and is funded by the University Department of Psychiatry.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
16/WS/0141
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion