A spectrophotometric assay of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase in crude extracts from tissues and cultured mammalian cells

Gloria Volohonsky, Chen N.Y.H. Tuby, Noga Porat, Maria Wellman-Rousseau, Athanase Visvikis, Pierre Leroy, Sharon Rashi, Pablo Steinberg, Avishay Abraham Stark*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

An assay of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) and glutathione synthetase (GS) in crude extracts of cultured cells and tissues is described. It represents a novel combination of known methods, and is based on the formation of glutathione (GSH) from cysteine, glutamate and glycine in the presence of rat kidney GS for the assay of γ-GCS, or from γ-glutamylcysteine and glycine for the assay of GS. GSH is then quantified by the Tietze recycling method. Assay mixtures contain the γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) inhibitor acivicin in order to prevent the degradation of γ-glutamylcysteine and of the accumulating GSH, and dithiothreitol in order to prevent the oxidation of cysteine and γ-glutamylcysteine. γ-GCS and GS levels determined by this method are comparable to those determined by others. The method is suitable for the rapid determination of γ-GCS GS in GGT-containing tissues and for the studies of induction of γ-GCS and GS in tissue cultures.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)49-65
Number of pages17
JournalChemico-Biological Interactions
Volume140
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Apr 2002

Funding

FundersFunder number
Eizen foundation
Ella Kodesz Institute for Research on Cancer Development and Prevention58
Rekanati Foundation for Medical Research
Tel-Aviv University
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

    Keywords

    • Enzymatic assays
    • GSH synthetase
    • γ-Glutamylcysteine synthetase

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