In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants is acknowledged to result in disease development and progression. Cigarette smoke (CS) is known to deplete total glutathione (GSH + GSSG) in the airways. We hypothesized that components in the gaseous phase of CS may irreversibly react with GSH to form GSH derivatives that cannot be red...

Glutathione (GSH) is the major scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS) inside cells. We used live confocal imaging in order to clarify the role of GSH in the biology of the organ of Corti, the sensory epithelium of the cochlea, before, during and after the onset of hearing and in ~1 year old mice. GSH content was measured using monochlorobimane (MCB), a non-fluorescent cell permeant bimane t...

Sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate (ITCs) derived from glucosinolate that is found in cruciferous vegetables, has been reported to exert a promising anticancer effect substantial amount of scientific research. However, epidemical studies showed inconsistencies between vegetable intake and bladder cancer risk. In this study, human T24 cells were used as vitro model for revealing the inhibitor...

In this research, we investigated the cytotoxic mechanisms of one of the widely used pharmaceuticals that are regularly associated with the adverse effects on the liver, sometimes leading to acute liver failure, diclofenac. Diclofenac liver cytotoxicity was associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and lipid peroxidation which were inhibited by antioxidants and ROS scavengers, fer...

Glutathione (GSH) is an important factor involved in the resistance of tumor cells to anticancer agents. Buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a specific inhibitor of GSH synthesis, effectively decreases cellular GSH concentrations both in vitro and in vivo. Depletion of GSH by BSO sensitizes a variety of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore, BSO has been on clinical trial as an anticance...

In this study we used HeLa cells transfected with a conditional Bcl-2 expression construct to study the effects of Bcl-2 on reduced glutathione (GSH) metabolism. Our previous work demonstrated that depletion of GSH by culturing cells in tissue culture medium lacking the amino acids cysteine and methionine, essential for GSH biosynthesis, caused cells overexpressing Bcl-2 to become sensitized to...

The role of cholesterol in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been linked to the generation of toxic amyloid beta peptides (Abeta). Using genetic mouse models of cholesterol loading, we examined whether mitochondrial cholesterol regulates Abeta neurotoxicity and AD pathology. Isolated mitochondria from brain or cortical neurons of transgenic mice overexpressing SREBP-2 (sterol regulatory element bind...

Defects in mitochondrial function have been shown to participate in the induction of neuronal cell injury. The aim of the present study was to assess the preventive effect of licorice compounds glycyrrhizin and 18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid against the toxicity of parkinsonian neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) in relation to the mitochondria-mediated cell death process and role of oxid...

Glutamate toxicity on PC12 cells is mediated by oxidative stress as a consequence of the inhibition of a cystine uptake system with depletion of GSH. In this study we report that glutamate decreases PC12 cell viability, inhibiting the reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). This decrease was prevented by the antioxidants vitamin E, idebenone and L-depren...

Photocatalytic micromotors that exhibit wireless and controllable motion by light have been extensively explored for cancer treatment photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, overexpressed glutathione (GSH) in the tumor microenvironment can down-regulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) level therapy. Herein, we present dendrite-shaped light-powered hematite microrobots as an effective GSH depletion a...