# Noninvasive Monitoring of Hepatic Glutathione Depletion Through Blood Test

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS · 2021 · $366,563

## Abstract

Abstract
 Glutathione (GSH) is the master antioxidant in the body and mainly produced in hepatocytes. Constant
efflux of hepatic glutathione into the blood stream allows the redox potential of the entire body to be precisely
controlled. Thus, depletion of hepatic glutathione has found to strongly correlate with an increased susceptibility
to oxidative stress and high risk of many diseases such as liver injuries, immunodeficiency, Parkinson’s disease
and infectious diseases. However, since hepatic glutathione is diluted more than two orders in the blood plasma
and consumed by different organs, unlike conventional liver serum biomarkers, this crucial pathophysiological
event cannot be readily monitored through blood testing even through it could be used to predict disease
progression much earlier than conventional serum markers. Until now, in the preclinical research, a large number
of animals have to be sacrificed; so that fresh liver tissues can be collected for ex vivo quantification of the
glutathione level. In clinical research, C13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and nuclear imaging are
being developed to indirectly measure GSH level; however, such high-end instrumentation and special skill sets
preclude the translation of the pathophysiological significance of hepatic glutathione depletion from laboratories
into the clinics, in particular, those with limited resources, for early disease management. The objective of this
proposal is to develop an innovative nanotechnology that empowers blood testing to serve as a simple and
rapid tool for noninvasive and consecutive monitoring of hepatic glutathione depletion; so that hepatic glutathione
depletion could be readily monitored in the clinics through blood test and be used as an earlier indicator for
diagnosis of liver and other oxidative-stress related diseases, which are influencing hundreds of millions of
people in the world.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10230423
- **Project number:** 1R01DK126140-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS
- **Principal Investigator:** Jie Zheng
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $366,563
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10230423

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10230423, Noninvasive Monitoring of Hepatic Glutathione Depletion Through Blood Test (1R01DK126140-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10230423. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*