REVIEW Glutathione is a tripeptide with a gamma peptide linkage between the amine group of cysteine and the carboxyl group of the glutamate side-chain. It is an antioxidant, preventing damage to important cellular components caused by reactive oxygen species such as free radicals and peroxides.[2] Glutathione (GSH) has been justly described as a defensive reagent against the action of toxic xenobiotics (drugs, pollutants, carcinogens). As a prototype antioxidant, it has been involved in cell protection from the noxious effect of excess oxidant stress, both directly and as a cofactor of glutathione peroxidases. In addition, it has long been known that GSH is capable of forming disulfide bonds with cysteine residues of proteins, and the relevance of this mechanism (''S-glutathionylation'') in regulation of protein function. The thiol group is a reducing agents, existing at a concentration of approximately 5 mM in animal cells. Glutathione reduces disulfide bonds formed within cytoplasmic proteins to cysteines by serving as an electron donor. In the process, glutathione is converted to its oxidized form, glutathione disulfide (GSSG), also called L-(-)-glutathione. Once oxidized, glutathione can be reduced back by glutathione reductase, using NADPH as an electron donor.The ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione within cells is often used as a measure of cellular toxicity.
REFERENCES
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Scholz RW. Graham KS. Gumpricht E. Reddy CC. Mechanism of interaction of vitamin E and glutathione in the protection against membrane lipid peroxidation. Ann NY Acad Sci 1989:570:514-7.
[2]
Hughes RE. Reduction of dehydroascorbic acid by animal tissues. Nature 1964:203:1068-9.
[3]
Chitranshu Kumar, Aeid Igbaria, Benoît D'Autreaux, Anne-Gaëlle Planson, Christophe Junot, Emmanuel Godat, Anand K Bachhawat, Agnès Delaunay-Moisan and Michel B Toledano, Glutathione revisited: a vital function in iron metabolism and ancillary role in thiol-redox control The EMBO Journal (2011) 30, 2044 - 2056.
[4]
Pompella A, Visvikis A, Paolicchi A, De Tata V, Casini AF. The changing faces of glutathione, a cellular protagonist. Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Oct 15;66(8):1499-503.
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