Abstract
S-Benzylglutathione (BzSG) and some other glutathione derivatives were found to be converted into cysteine derivatives by rat-kidney microsomes and to serve as com-petitive inhibitors to glutathionase. These conversions were similar to the metabolic breakdown of glutathione by the gluta-thionase system.
Glutathionase was solubilized by treat-ment with deoxycholate or with heat-treated snake venom and the activity to break-down glutathione derivatives was also solubilized in parallel with the glutathionase activity.
Evidence was presented that the break-down of glutathione derivatives was cata-lyzed by the glutathionase of rat-kidney microsomes, and this suggests that gluta-thionase participates in the formation of mercapturic acid in animals.
The authors thank Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo for a kind gift of reagents.
