Glutathione-PEGylated liposomal methylprednisolone in comparison to free methylprednisolone: slow release characteristics and prolonged lymphocyte depression in a first-in-human study

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glutathione, published as a randomized controlled trial.

However, it is inconvenient and its side effects are undesirable.

Who Took Part

The study group was 18 subjects.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

Safety and tolerability profiles were assessed based on adverse events, safety measurements and central nervous system tests.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, open-label, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Glutathione study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Glutathione study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Being open-label, the Glutathione study did not mask who received what.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Glutathione group a baseline to be compared against.

MP plasma concentrations, lymphocyte counts, adrenocorticotropic hormone, osteocalcin and fasting glucose were determined.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Anti-Allergic Agents, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Blood Glucose, Clemastine, Drug Compounding and Glutathione.

The authors tagged it with the keywords liposomes, methylprednisolone and multiple sclerosis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and open-label study of Glutathione in 18 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2018 (British journal of clinical pharmacology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Glutathione compound page, all human trials.