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Glutathione and Fuel Oxidation in Aging

NCT01870193 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: EARLY_PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 36

Last updated 2023-02-15

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Glutathione is an important antioxidant protein which protects cells from harmful oxidative stress. Elderly humans are known to have elevated oxidative stress and deficiency of glutathione, but it is not known whether there is deficient synthesis of glutathione in muscle tissue of elderly humans.

Mitochondria are engines of cells where food consumed is burned to make energy. Under normal conditions the fuel of choice in the fasted state is fat, but fasted elderly humans are not able to oxidize fat as well as healthy young humans. Elderly humans also have the highest incidence and prevalence of being overweight and obese, and have increased storage of fat in liver and muscle.

This study will help determine whether

1. elderly humans have diminished synthesis of glutathione in the skeletal muscle, and whether this can be improved by supplementing cysteine and glycine (and not an isonitrogenous placebo) in the diet;
2. improving muscle glutathione concentrations can also improve fuel oxidation in aging;
3. improvement of intracellular glutathione concentrations will be associated with a change in total body fat content

Conditions

  • Aging

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Glycine, cysteine (as n-acetylcysteine), alanine

Young controls will receive cysteine plus glycine for 2 weeks The elderly subjects will be randomized in a double-blinded design to receive either cysteine plus glycine OR alanine for a period of 4 months

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute on Aging (NIA)

    collaborator NIH

  • Rajagopal V Sekhar

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • R V Sekhar, MD · Baylor College of Medicine

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
21 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2013-04-23
Primary Completion
2019-03-31
Completion
2022-08-22

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01870193 on ClinicalTrials.gov