Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide.

It contains an unusual peptide linkage between the amine

group of cysteine and the carboxyl group of the glutamate side chain. Glutathione, an
antioxidant, helps protect cells from reactive oxygen species such as free radicals and peroxides.
[2
Glutathione is a dietary supplement used as an antioxidant to help protect the body from many
diseases and conditions. It is also used to treat infertility (difficulty getting pregnant), cancer,
cataracts, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Glutathione is used to detoxify various
chemicals from the body.

Other names for Glutathione include: Gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine and GSH. .

Thiol groups are kept in a reduced state at a concentration of approximately ~5 mM in animal
cells. In effect, glutathione reduces any disulfide bond formed within cytoplasmic proteins to
cysteines by acting as an electron donor. In the process, glutathione is converted to its oxidized
form glutathione disulfide (GSSG). Glutathione is found almost exclusively in its reduced form,
since the enzyme that reverts it from its oxidized form, glutathione reductase, is constitutively
active and inducible upon oxidative stress. In fact, the ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized
glutathione w ithin cells is often used scientifically as a measure of cellular toxicity. Glutathione
has multiple functions:
1. It is the major endogenous antioxidant produced by the cells, participating directly in the
neutralization of free radicals and reactive oxygen compounds, as well as maintaining
exogenous antioxidants such as vitamins C and E in their reduced (active) forms.
• 2. Through direct conjugation, it detoxifies many xenobiotics (foreign compounds) and
carcinogens, both organic and inorganic.
• 3. It is essential for the immune system to exert its full potential, e.g. (1) modulating
antigen presentation to lymphocytes, thereby influencing cytokine production and type of
response (cellular or humoral) that develops, (2) enhancing proliferation of lymphocytes
thereby increasing magnitude of response, (3) enhancing killing activity of cytotoxic T
cells and NK cells, and (4) regulating apoptosis, thereby maintaining control of the
immune response.
• 4. It plays a fundamental role in numerous metabolic and biochemical reactions such as
DNA synthesis and repair, protein synthesis, prostaglandin synthesis, amino acid
transport and enzyme activation. Thus, every system in the body can be affected by the
state of the glutathione system, especially the immune system, the nervous system, the
gastrointestinal system and the lungs.
[16]

Methods to determine glutathione

Reduced glutathione may be visualized using Ellman's reagent or bimane-derivates such as
monobromobimane. The monobromobimane method is more sensitive, in this procedure cells are
lysed and thiols extracted using a HCl buffer. Subsequently are the thiols reduced with DTT and
labelled by monobromobimane. Monobrombimane becomes fluorescent after binding to GSH.
The thiols are then separated by HPLC and the fluorescence quantified with a fluorescence
detector. Bimane may also be used to quantify glutathione in vivo. The quantification is done by
CLSM after application of the dye to living cells.[52] An other approach, which allows to measure
the glutathione redox potential at a high spatial and temporal resolution in living cells is based on
redox imaging using the redox-sensitive green fluorescent protein (roGFP
 Properties

Molecular formula C10H17N3O6S

Molar mass 307.32 g/mol

Melting point 195 °C, 468 K, 383 °F

Solubility in water Miscible