Poorly controlled type 1 diabetes is associated with altered glutathione homeostasis in adolescents: apparent resistance to N-acetylcysteine supplementation.

Blood glutathione concentrations represent a measure of protection against oxidative damage. In earlier studies, we observed that, in adolescents with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), blood glutathione is significantly depleted because of increased rates of glutathione utilization. To determine whether increased availability of cysteine - one of the three constitutive amino acids of glutathione - would attenuate the alterations in glutathione metabolism, ten 16 +/- 1 yr-old adolescents with poorly controlled T1DM [hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c): 9.